Deadlock
by ss9
Summary: Spoilers Series 8: AU Ending What if someone else got to The Master before The Brigadier? The Doctor has a murder mystery on his hands and only the garbled dying thoughts of The Master to help him solve it. Can The Doctor make sense from the mind of a lunatic? Can he find a way to save them all?
1. Chapter 1

"…Say something nice…"

For a moment time seemed to freeze, the air around them stilled, the noise of the overpopulated earth dropped away and it was just them. The Doctor could feel his two hearts pounding wildly in his chest, his hands trembling as he held Missy's device in his hand, held the weapon up against his oldest friend. The face may have been new but those eyes….sharp and icy blue like a dagger they pierced his two hearts. Yet now at the end they seemed to melt slightly, with the curve of a genuine smile not the The Master's habitual smirk pulling at those red painted lips.

"…Please…"

Only this time instead of a taunt The Doctor caught the hint of something else and just this once he decided to give her what she wanted.

"You win." He spat, the words tasting like bitter poison on his tongue. He didn't want to do this, to be forced to murder his oldest friend in order to save the soul of his latest companion. Yet he was trapped between a rock and a hard place, both of the women forcing him here. He could save Clara at expense of The Master's life and his own soul.

"Thank you."

Missy's reply wrong-footed him slightly and the doctor hesitated. This was The Master, she didn't just give up…she didn't just stand there like a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter. There was something he was missing, something about this whole sorry business that didn't make sense…She had been winning, The Master had been at the point of victory and she had chosen to throw that away, she knew him too well to know he would always have found another way around the situation; a slippery get out clause to her deadly conundrum…conquer the universe or condemn the human race to die and be reborn as Cybermen….

"If it will help you hurry it up Doctor you can consider it a mercy kill..."

The rest of her words died in her throat and The Doctor could only watch as Missy convulsed, her scarlet tipped fingers clawing futilely at her throat as she dropped to her knees, missing by a hair's breadth the pulse of blue laser fire that appeared out of nowhere.

Whirling around The Doctor stared in horror as he spotted a lone remaining Cyberman, then the metal man saluted and The Doctor was filled with a sense of knowing…The Brigadier. He had tried to kill The Master, tried and failed but it seemed someone was having far greater success but how?

Pulling out his sonic The Doctor dropped to his knees, running the beeping device over his fallen adversary he began to get basic readings…toxicity levels rising…primary and secondary respiratory systems in some sort of deadlock…both open and competing and blocking the other from functioning.

That wasn't possible….

Staring down in horror The Doctor was faced with watching his oldest friend choke to death, those ice blue eyes now wild and bloodshot. Not like this…He couldn't go through this again…The Master bleeding and dying in his arms upon the Hellicarrier had almost broken him. Reaching out he brushed the tears from her cheeks surprised to feel the brush of her mind against his own, the sudden telepathic contact after so long alone with his own thoughts caused The Doctor to start and pull away breaking the contact.

Yet the pleading look in her eyes urged him back. The flood of thoughts…memories…emotions were overwhelming, it was like being caught in a rush of flood water and swept away and The Doctor could only make sense of snatches…of glimpses…before they were gone, it was too much too fast…

Yet there was one overriding mental command that came across loud and clear and The Doctor clung to it.

THE DEVICE…NOW!

Pulling back into his own mind and body The Doctor stared down at The Master's deadly device still clasped in his right hand, his fingers trembling as they tightened on its surface.

She couldn't mean…she couldn't want him to…

Please Theta

It was barely a whisper across his mind but The Doctor couldn't ignore her. Shaking he raised his hand, holding out the device his finger lingering over the trigger yet even now he hesitated.

It's…alright…silly boy

Her mental voice was so faint now The Doctor could barely hear her, yet clearly his own feelings were being broadcast loud and clear as somehow Missy managed somehow to cover his hand with her own…her fingers threading between his own. Drowning in the icy blue of her gaze The Doctor felt it the second before…before she did what he couldn't…before she relieved him of the last burden of having to be the one to do this.

"No."

The cry erupted from The Doctor's lips as the dreadful red fire rushed out as he watched it wash over her body, the last sight of her burned into his retinas, a fond smirk tugging at those painted lips.

-/-


	2. Chapter 2

-/-

Alone…cold…The Doctor could feel the rough wet stone beneath his cheek, the rough grit and dirt underneath his fingernails as they clawed futilely at the floor. The ever present darkness and oppressive feeling of being watched, of knowing that he wasn't alone, of the dread pooling in his gut that the only thing worse than being left alone in the dark was not being left there alone…

Then the door to his cell opened…

Gasping for breath The Doctor reared up and almost hit his head against the underside of the Tardis control, the familiar surroundings and concerned flutter of his Tardis in the back of his mind had him choking with relief. It hadn't been real…it was just a dream…just a nightmare.

Yet as he fell back against the grating of the Tardis The Doctor felt himself shiver as the pervading sense of dread continued to linger. It had felt so real, the texture of the rough wet gritty floor under his fingertips, the wet pervading cold that caused his limbs to shiver in sympathetic memory; almost too real.

An echo…a psychic imprint…a memory?

Each possibility had its own terrifying consequences and The Doctor clenched his fists as he tried to regain control of his wildly beating hearts. What was wrong with him? He was trembling like a child tormented by a childhood fear, the monster in the wardrobe, the person hiding under you bed…

He wanted it to just be a dream, a terrible lucid dream brought on by his recent trauma and he certainly had plenty to choose from and as if mirroring the direction of his thoughts the Tardis control board sparked, reminding The Doctor of his uncontrolled fit of rage.

She had lied.

Why he had ever allowed himself to believe Missy was capable of telling the truth even in the face of death was the true mystery. The Master wasn't capable of honesty or generosity…and yet…

She had pulled the trigger; she had committed suicide and had spared him the terrible burden of being The Doctor who killed. Even now he could remember the warmth of her lips against his own, her last mental caress, the fondness even in her chastisement…

Silly boy

And he was a fool, a fool to continue to follow her merry dance, to allow himself to hope each time that this time it might different, that she might be different, that he might not have to keep suffering the loss of once again being the last of his kind, at least the last not lost in another dimension. Every time to feel the sharp needles of her nails ripping at a scar that had barely scabbed over, of exorcizing the wound and causing fresh blood to flow into his tormented soul.

Gallifrey was lost, The Master was dead, another companion had left him, he was alone again.

The concerned trill of the Tardis dragged him back from his morose brooding place and The Doctor dragged himself back to his feet his fingers tightening on the control panel as he struggled to find his balance for a moment. Looking down at the damage he had thoughtless wrought in his rage and grief The Doctor could only curse his own stupidity.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his sonic, the blue light still blinking as the little device continued to process and work on something. Frowning in confusion The Doctor stared down dumbly at the screwdriver before the memory came back to him. Missy….He had scanned her before…

His gaze fell to the palm device that sat on the Tardis control still where he had abandoned it. The innocent looking and yet deadly item that he had refused to leave behind much to UNIT's displeasure. As much as he trusted Kate to do what was best for Earth that did not include handing over timelord technology for Earth's scientists to pick apart.

Brushing aside the fragments of metal and wires The Doctor synced his screwdriver with the Tardis mainframe, frowning as the downloaded data readings began to flicker across the cracked screen. Rubbing his palm across his face The Doctor blinked his eyes unable to believe what he was reading, his thick grey eyebrows meeting at a point as he frowned down into the display. A telepathic signal, a carrier wave directed at what quickly became apparent was some sort of implant that had somehow missed in his initial scans.

The body scan was conclusive even if The Doctor clinically avoided lingering on the mocking drumbeats of the simulation's hearts. He watched as the implant clinically began overriding the natural electrical impulses that controlled The Master's body, the technical representation of jamming signals that caused the glands in her throat to swell blocking the primary respiratory pathway, then the muscle spasm that locked open the secondary. Then other signals that caused her body to begin to process enzymes, slowly increasing the level toxicity in her blood.

It was a slow terrifying way to die, having your own body turned into the weapon that kills you, no wonder Missy chose the option of disintegration.

Still that only answered the questions of how, those of why and who were far more pressing and as The Doctor fed the echo of the carrier wave into the navcomputer he resolved to find those answers. Somewhere out there was an enemy with the ability to control timelord physiology and that was an enemy he couldn't afford to ignore.

-/-


	3. Chapter 3

-/-

It was a strange sort of place at least that was what the scientist in her was commenting on, the human in her was too busy waiting for the next horrible thing to happen and no amount of praying for The Doctor's help had any discernible effect. Still at least she wasn't alone, even if was an odd sort of gathering, two guards, a maths teacher, a rather cute doctor of some sort and a psychopath trapped in a room for all eternity. It would probably be the excellent start for one of those walked into a pub joke, one that probably ended horribly for all save the psychopath. Not that Missy was currently giving them any problems.

From the moment the time lady had materialised she had been unconscious and Osgood had taken to poking her every so often just to check if there had been any change. Even tied to a chair with everything they could lay their hands on The Master was not someone you should underestimate and if it was possible to make the dead any deader then surely Missy would be the one to know and it was not the way Osgood had hoped to spend eternity.

She still wondered if it had been a mistake to send the boy back via the teleporter, surely it would have made more sense to send someone else, someone who could at least have helped The Doctor in rescuing the rest of them. Yet Mr Pink had been adamant in sending the boy and since he was the one with bracelet he was the one in charge and Osgood couldn't make her mind up if being so resentful made her a bad person or not.

Was it selfish not to want to stay dead or to be forced to spend eternity in the afterlife with the very person who murdered you?

Speaking of which it was about time she checked on Missy again. It gave her something constructive to do. After all the guards had their guarding, Mr Pink seemed content to mope in the corner and Dr Chang couldn't so much as glance in Missy's direction without tearing up. Besides it gave her a measure of satisfaction every time, Missy may have murdered her but someone else had beaten the time lady at her own game and Osgood for one hoped it had been The Doctor.

Crossing over to the bound time lady Osgood swallowed down her nerves, wiping her suddenly sweaty palms on the cotton panels of her lab coat as she once again reminded herself that The Doctor wouldn't be afraid…

Leaning down she poked Missy firmly in the shoulder, relieved when she merely seemed to flop and sag against her makeshift restraints as usual, yet just as Osgood was about to step away and return to her corner the timelady let out a little huff of air.

Perplexed Osgood waited for any follow up, it was like watching a coiled rattle snake just waiting for the moment it would suddenly sit up and spit venom. Yet if anything had changed there was no outward sign and unable to resist it Osgood poked her again.

"Do you mind I was trying to sleep!" Missy's shrill hiss set the hairs standing on the back of Osgood's neck as she stood locked in terror as the timelady sighed and languidly opened her eyes, blinking those ice blue that flittered over Osgood judging her with one glance and finding her sorely lacking..

"Sorry did I frighten you?" Missy taunted with a growing smirk as the latest addition to her little petting zoo turned those large cow eyes on her. Honestly what had possessed her to pick this one…oh yes The Doctor liked her and Missy couldn't abide letting The Doctor having any new toys to play with.

"I am not frightened of a dead woman." Osgood replied bravely, tugging on the lapels of her coat as she drew herself up to her full five foot five inches. "Especially not one who is tied up."

"Hmmm yes because that worked so well for you the last time." Missy taunted chuckling slightly under her breath before relaxing back against her chair and casting her gaze around the room. "My my what a fine catch we have here….Chang Chang my man, GI Joe and back up dolls and you dearie. You know I never did get your name. Terribly bad form I admit…I apologise Miss?"

"Osgood, Dr Osgood if you don't mind…"

"NO NO NO." Missy retorted shaking her head. "That will never do, too many Doctors and you ruin the party….Osgood Osgood, no I can't work with that. How about Ossie?"

"My name is…"

"Ossie…Ossie…Gday mate throw another shrimp on the Barbie….No wait I have it!" Missy announced with gleeful abandon. "You can be Skippy and GI Joe over there can be Joey, Skippy and Joey…What's that Skip?" Missy imitated twisting her head to one side as if listening to an imaginary voice. "There are a bunch of people stuck in the Nethersphere…And they don't know how to get out?"

That got the others attention and Danny Pink pushed his way out of the corner, his heartbroken expression transforming into one of determined resolution. "There is a way out?"

Snorting in derision Missy rolled her eyes. "Well of course!" Before smiling fondly at her new pets. "Duh like I would build anything that didn't have a backup…That's where we are in case you were wondering? Secure back up storage."

"And how do we get out of it?"

"Now that would be telling wouldn't it Joey." Missy replied her smile growing to manic proportions as Danny seemed to seethe at her taunting. "But if you come closer I might be prepared to whisper it…"

"Don't!" Osgood interjected before Danny could act impulsively. "That's what she did the last time. Tricked me into getting close and then she killed me."

"You know you're too adorable Skippy, why when your face is all scrunched up pouting like that it reminds me of a lovely wee Ood I met once...Shame I had to kill him too but well you can't have too much of a good thing." Missy teased looking up at her new playthings from beneath her lashes.

"Beside you really should thank me Skippy, if hadn't vaporised you then you wouldn't be here now would you? You'd be all squished and splattered over parts of Belgium. Only the chosen few are lucky enough to end up here." Missy announced proudly glancing around the dull grey box that currently housed them.

"I'm honoured." Osgood deadpanned and Missy pouted.

"Oh don't be a bad sport Skippy you wanted an adventure didn't you? Well here we are plum central so don't sulk."

"Not here and not with you!"

"Well boo hoo." Missy snapped. "You can't always get what you want haven't you learned that much by now? Do you think I want to be stuck here with you stinking rotting sheep, having to listen to your self-indulgent bleating, oh poor me, I wanted to travel with The Doctor!" Missy added drawling her accent as she gurned in mock sympathy before her eyes sharpened like flint as they bore into Osgood's own.

"You should count yourself lucky sister most of his human companions end up suffering the most unimaginable ways and all in the name of the greater good. Well damn the greater good if it even bloody well exists. Him and his blasted superior morals have caused your precious planet more suffering than I! Your sainted Doctor doesn't even really exist, he's a fantasy mankind has concocted to avoid having to take responsibility for itself and while he spoon-feeds you, burps you and cleans up your messes the rest of the galaxy has to get by all on its own."

Stunned by the vitriol in the time lady's voice Osgood stepped back pulling Danny Pink with her, glancing back over her shoulder at Missy who had now settled for scowling at the ceiling as if it had personally offended her.

"We can't listen to her…"

"But if there really is a way out…" Danny interjected a flicker of hope growing stronger in his chest….Clara…

"She's insane." Osgood muttered with another glance at the timelady who was now humming loudly. "Just look at her. We can't trust anything she says."

"Except she's trapped too." Danny responded nervously. "And if it's in her own interest…."

"You know I can still hear you!" Missy exclaimed loudly. "Didn't you're parents ever teach you it's not nice to talk about someone behind their back?"

Pushing Osgood and her concerns aside Danny approached a now smiling Missy. "There really is a way out of here?"

"Yes there is." Missy smirked. "Only you'll never find it on your own sweet prince and where will poor Princess Clara be?"

"And you'll show us how to get out?" Danny continued ignoring the lunatics attempt at baiting him.

"Scouts honour." Missy mimed holding up her fingers in a mockery of a salute.

"Alright then." Danny decided reaching down and unfastening the restraints that trapped The Master.

"No you can't…" Yet it was too late and Osgood's protest fell on death ears as Missy pushed aside the remains of her restraints and stood up, stretching cramped muscles before reaching up to check on her hair, a time lady couldn't look dishevelled after all. Reaching into her pocket she retrieved her scarlet lipstick and retouched it carefully.

"Alright then kiddies follow Mummy and don't go wandering off because I won't come looking for you." Missy exclaimed gleefully before walking over to the large expanse of grey wall, then raising her right hand she knocked three times before walking straight through a solid wall.

"What the hell?" Osgood spluttered turning back to face her companions, yet Danny Pink merely shrugged and followed The Master raising his hand to knock before a sharply taloned hand was thrust back through the wall's surface and grabbed him roughly by the lapel before dragging him through.

Swallowing down her nerves Osgood pushed her glasses back up her nose, wishing she had the equivalent of her inhaler here as one by one the others followed Danny's path. Gathering her courage Osgood closed her eyes and stepped forward, like Alice through the looking glass there was no turning back now.

-/-


	4. Chapter 4

-/-

The Master…

In this moment he hated her…

This had to be a damn mocking trick it had to be, it couldn't be a coincidence… galactic coordinates ten-zero-eleven-zero-zero by zero-two from galactic zero centre.

There was nothing there The Doctor had already been there following The Master's merry little dance and now this damn psychic signal was dragging him back to the last place he wanted to be. Yet something had to be sending out this signal, even if it was just a microscopic relay station and The Doctor scowled down at the Tardis console, his dark grey eyebrows drawn so deeply together they seemed to blur into one.

Rubbing his eyes The Doctor tried to recall how long it had been since he had slept? He had been surviving on cat naps for so long now, ever since his attempt to take the Tardis into hell had backfired with such superb idiocy. He had tried to interfere with the laws of nature and had been slapped back like an upstart teenager. Why had he even set himself up for failure?

Clara…his two hearts constricted…his impossible girl…so vulnerable and yet so strong…a contradiction in human form and so like Susan in personality that sometimes it hurt to look at her and when she did that thing with the eyes… How could he say no to her when she did that? He had never been the stern parent in the past and now…

Now he was clinging to whatever shreds remained of his life with such desperation he was pushing away the last person in the universe that could see him. He had been hurt, his pride wounded by Clara's willingness to give up on their friendship for her relationship with Danny, like any father he could never believe that there was a man good enough and P.E's utter contempt for him had certainly not helped matters.

And yet even Clara had disappointed him, the moment she had thrown that last Tardis key into the lava The Doctor had felt his hearts break yet again. He had hidden his pain the best he could, choosing to ignore it rather than risk losing Clara completely.

He had already lost so much…so much of his recent past selves. He remembered the details, the names and places the faces yet so many had lost their emotional resonance. Yet the further back in his life he stretched the clearer the memories were, it was like his timeline had been at the epicentre of an explosion and the further away from the damage he walked the less shattered his past became.

Of all his memories those early years on Gallifrey he could recall with perfect clarity and perhaps that was why this was so hard…Kochei had once been his best friend and The Doctor had little trouble recalling the way his mischievous companion would liven up the usually dull lessons they were forced to endure at the time academy. Memories of whispering in neighbouring bunks, of places they would visit and adventures they would have…Theta and Kochei together exploring the universe…together…

_..I need my friend back… _

Pushing aside that memory too fresh and too real, The Doctor couldn't allow himself to dwell on the genuine plea he had heard in her voice or the way it echoed a similar need in his own hearts; for the first time in forever he could almost see his former best friend, the face was so different but he could almost see her.

_..I need my friend back…_

…_So do I…_

The Doctor's hearts echoed in reply even it were words he would never speak aloud.

No they couldn't go back. It was too late even if The Master wasn't dead and Missy seemed to realise before the end when he had turned around prepared to turn her weapon on her.

The look of surprise, the hesitation she tried to hide under a smile. He had suddenly changed the rules of the game they had been playing since their very first incarnations. The Master plotted it was in her nature, she challenged him like no other could and The Doctor would admit only to himself the exhilaration he felt in besting her, so he would foil her complicated plots and somehow she would find a way to escape, only for the cycle to begin again.

Never had he threatened her life, not like that, not in what would amount to an cold blooded execution…

Friend or Family? That was what it had come down to and for the first time ever The Doctor was grateful that Missy hadn't forced him to follow through.

Yet gratitude did not extend to playing along with her childish games and it was time he stopped but something prevented him from simply sending the Tardis back into the time vortex and forgetting the whole thing. The Master had been as good as murdered. The horror and injustice of some mystery killing getting away without consequences sat uneasy in The Doctor's hearts.

Sighing The Doctor set the Tardis on to scanning for different phase variances, for any sign of a cloaked vessel, or something…anything. The Tardis would alert him if she found anything and in the meantime he was going to try and get some sleep and hope that for once his dreams were kind. Yet as The Master's pained and bloodshot eyes swam once more into his mind The Doctor doubted very much that they would be.

-/-


	5. Chapter 5

-/-

They had been walking for hours and of all the crazy dangerous things Osgood had been expecting on an excursion led by The Master boredom had not been one of them. The long white corridor seemed to stretch on forever and Osgood stared with something akin to longing at the doors they passed, her fingers itching to open just one of them. It was worrying that the only thing keeping her from doing that was the manic humming and occasional snatch of song as Missy babbled away to herself at the front of their little troop and Osgood could only clench her teeth as the Master's version of Hey Mickey was now on an insanity driving loop in her own brain.

Surely there had to be more to this place than this repetitive endless path that Missy had them on? Anything would be better than this…How could anyone have mistaken this place for Heaven? It certainly didn't look like any afterlife Osgood had ever imagined.

"Do you think we'll be stopping anytime soon?"

The sudden question startled Osgood and she blushed slightly on catching the gaze of the tall Dr Chang who had dropped back to walk alongside without even Osgood noticing.

"Ummm I don't know."

Osgood could only mumble ducking her head slightly as she pushed her glasses up her nose before forcing herself to feign a confident smile and glancing back up at the handsome Dr Chang.

"I doubt it I just hope we are turning off soon….I would suggest asking but well…I don't think we'd get the truth if we did."

Nodding Dr Chang smiled briefly before his face fell slightly as he followed her gaze and they both watched Missy, strangely fascinated as the timelady seemed to skip about like they were off on a jolly.

"Probably not…" He answered.

It was tripping off her tongue before she could stop herself and Osgood couldn't help but curse her curious nature.

"How could you have worked with her and not have noticed that's she well…well psychotic?"

This time it was Dr Chang who blushed slightly, his ears turning red as he fumbled with his hands and for a moment Osgood thought he wouldn't answer, that he would regret slowing down to talk to her.

"There was always something a little different I mean she always stood out because she seemed larger than life, it was a challenge just trying to keep up but you learnt so much just by listening, more than I learnt in all my years at university. I knew I was doing something important, something revolutionary." Dr Chang admitted with a shy smile.

I just thought she was a little eccentric but brilliant…She really was the best boss I ever had, as sad as that sounds, well up until she killed me."

"You can't have had many decent bosses if she was the best." Osgood snorted unable to reconcile this version of Missy with the manic grinning version that had announced so gleefully Osgood's impending death.

The Master was like a cat playing with its kill allowing her victims the glimmer of hope of escape before going for the death blow.

"I guess you just had to be there." Dr Chang answered feebly before suddenly pulling up short and Osgood quickly found out why as she suddenly barrelled into the back of one of the UNIT guards.

Missy had stopped dead, the gleeful skipping and singing was suddenly over and Osgood shivered at the sudden loss of what had become bizarrely reassuring. Instead The Master was tense as a whip twisting her head from side to side as if listening to something only she could hear.

"Thing One come here."

Missy's command was issued softly but there was no doubting it was an order to be obeyed. The only question was who by and the assorted human's looked between themselves in confusion, before the timelady huffed and glanced back over her shoulder and jerking her head in the direction of one of the armed guards.

Nervously stepping forward the guard shuffled up to Missy's shoulder, flinching when the timelady suddenly flung her arm out to stop him moving forward.

"Careful careful we wouldn't want to have an accident now would we?" Missy playfully chastised before her gaze drifted over to the nearest door.

"Now do be a dear and check out what is behind that door." She added pointing at just another non-descript door in the unending series. "Just a peek now do be quick."

Her heart pounding in her throat Osgood couldn't believe it when the guard actually obeyed. If it had been her she would have flatly refused, after all if it was safe why didn't Missy take a look for herself? She half expected the guard to be sucked into some sort of vortex the moment he carefully opened the door, yet as she craned her neck to see she was disappointed only to be confronted with what appeared to be another non-descript room.

"Just an office…" The guard exclaimed with a sigh of relief as clearly he had shared Osgood's belief and his relief at not dying horribly for a second time was palpable.

Clearly that was not the answer Missy had been hoping for as her eyebrows creased as she glared down the corridor. "That isn't right."

"Great so we're lost. Brilliant!" Osgood couldn't help but snort, regretting it slightly when Missy turned those ice blue eyes on her and there was no sign of amusement in their depths.

"No we're not Skippy." Missy hissed. "You may be lost but I know precisely where we are; only someone is playing a game with us, moving things around. Not that it will stop me but it will make things… interesting." She added her blue eyes lighting up with something akin to manic glee.

"You mean there is someone here other than us?" Osgood demanded her desire for adventure shrinking rapidly when Missy's grin grew. "Something's stalking us?"

"After a fashion." Missy shrugged unconcerned reaching up to pat her hair.

"And what happens if it catches up to us?" Osgood cursed her inability to not ask the question everyone was thinking but no one really wanted to know the answer too.

Stepping forward Missy closed the distance between them and Osgood stood her ground as best she could when her knees started trembling.

"Do you really want to know Skip?" Missy asked familiarly as she reached out and patted Osgood on the head like a favoured pet and Osgood's face creased in revulsion.

"Yes." Osgood forced herself to reply, refusing to admit aloud just how terrifying it was being so close to The Master once more. To feel the artificial warmth of her breath on her cheek just like she had when she had bargained for her life before the excruciating burn of Missy's vaporiser had been turned on her.

If there was a right answer this clearly was it as Missy's indulgent expression turned into a broad smile as she cocked her head and stared at Osgood appraisingly, muttering to herself. "Brave little thing aren't you…"

Opening her mouth to reply Osgood was shocked to silence as The Master struck, whirling around she pushed Thing Two and the armed guard stumbled forward. It was over in a flash, one moment he was there and then suddenly he was gone as a wall of fire erupted in front of them and the heat had them all staggering back in shock and horror.

Breathing in the man's dying scream Missy sighed in something skin to satisfaction, "Now that's what I call a firewall", before turning back to her little ducklings, her eyebrow raised at their horrified expressions, an innocent look on her face. "Well you did ask."

-/-


	6. Chapter 6

-/-

_He woke into semi-darkness and the sound of humming…off tune and disjointed, occasionally interrupted by a burst of high manic pitch laughter, and a throbbing head. _

_Frowning The Doctor hissed as a vicious lance of pain sent him reeling. He lifted a hand and cautiously probed the source, wincing as his fingers connected with swollen skin and his hand encountered the powdery stickiness of dried blood. He sat up, slowly as a swell of nausea threatened to overwhelm him, drawing slow breaths through his nose and out through his mouth until it began to subside._

_The floor under his bare feet was no longer the rough rock that he vaguely recalled but cold polished metal that sucked any lingering heat out of his body._ _The biting cold remained though but instead of being submerged in darkness his latest prison was lit by dull red emergency light that flashed in a distracted rotation exacerbating his throbbing head. Fumbling his pocket The Doctor searched for his sonic screwdriver, his concern growing when it turned out to be missing._

_No it had to be back on the Tardis…Where he was…This had to be some sort of dream. The last thing The Doctor properly recalled before waking here had been settling down in his favourite chair in the library with a well-worn copy of an Agatha Christy classic that had seemed strangely familiar._

_Yet The Doctor had never experienced a dream like this. Terrifying nightmares yes but never had even his own memory fuelled dreams felt this real._

_Shivering he tugged the thread bare shirt that hung off of his frame closer to his body, feeling the protest in his limbs that moved sluggishly at his command. Wrapping his arms around his torso to try and hold in some warmth The Doctor quickly came to two startling realisations. Firstly that it had clearly been some time since this body had eaten, as he could feel each and every rib under the palms of his hands, and secondly that this wasn't his body, not the one he had left snoozing away in the Tardis library, not unless he had regenerated and forgotten all about it._

_Doing his best to try and ignore the disconcerting physically alien sensation of breasts pressing against his arms The Doctor squinted down at the polished metal floor. The flashing red light barely gave enough illumination but even distorted he was able to realise this was not his face, yet it was familiar and as he leaned in closer he recognised features even in the gaunt face staring back at him. Yet it was the eyes, bloodshot and wild though they may have been, but there was no mistaking that ice blue colour._

_He was in The Master's body._

_Reaching out he traced the gaunt lines of his/her reflection before reaching up to run his hand over her features. Her cheekbones felt like sharp protrusions against his fingers, her hair was cropped in short in uneven tufts and was ridden with grime, yet it was the cold sensation of a metal collar around her sparrow like neck chafing at the skin until it felt red raw that really caused his blood to turn cold. _

_He had seen these before, on animals, shock collars meant to tame and control even the most savage of creatures yet The Doctor had never seen them used on a higher being. Only slaves wore collars and for a timelord to be so treated…._

_Staring down into The Master's reflection The Doctor's mind whirled with questions yet there was no way discernible way of gaining the answers to the questions clamouring through his aching brain._

_Was this one of the memories Missy had transferred or was this something else? What had she done during their brief telepathic contact, The Doctor could recall the flood of thoughts that had overwhelmed him at the time. The Master had always exceeded his abilities telepathically but could she really have forged some sort link between them without him even noticing? _

_No that was too ludicrous, besides Missy was dead and any link would have died with her so it had to be fragments of her thoughts that had been too disorganised for his conscious mind to manage and yet were now manifesting themselves in his subconscious._

_Was this even real? The Master was literally a master of deception. Yet The Doctor couldn't imagine she would use such a humiliating situation, would expose herself to weakness even in order to gain his sympathy, just what did she have to gain?_

_Beating his battered hands against the floor in frustration The Doctor glared down at the reflection that was not his own a deep frown pulling at his brows…a frown that was not being reflected back at him and for a moment The Doctor caught sight of ice blue eyes wide with surprise…_

Sitting up suddenly in his chair, knocking the dog-eared book to the floor it took far too long for The Doctor to come back to himself, his hearts pounding in fright. The shrill alarm of the Tardis had woken him; she had found something after all. Heaving his long body out of the chair The Doctor reflexively patted himself down, relieved to back in a body he recognised, reaching into his pocket to grip the reassuring presence of his sonic screwdriver.

This was real, this he could trust, could rely on when all his other senses were conspiring to blind and confuse him. It was time to get back to work and solve this mystery; perhaps if he did then these bizarre dreams would finally stop. The Doctor didn't allow himself to linger on the thought that as his last connection to The Master that he might not want them too.

-/-


	7. Chapter 7

-/-

Osgood was watching the moment Missy seemed to trip over.

For the normally poised and graceful psychopath it was so unusual that everyone stopped dead in their tracks and stared…no one moved to help her…they weren't insane after all.

They simply stood there frozen unable to move as the time lady dragged herself back to her feet, her slender form actually shaking as she pulled herself up. Yet once there it was the way she stared deeply out of the floor to ceiling glass wall that looked out over the darkened Nethersphere, a look akin to desperation on her face that really had Osgood worried.

Unable to resist indulging her curiosity Osgood stepped closer, pivoting on to her toes as she tried to work out what Missy was staring at with such intense concentration and longing. Yet the Nethersphere was dark, the buildings that had housed the minds of the dead powered down after their guests had left leaving only these service conduits or routine system file pathways with power.

Osgood had stretched her mind making the comparisons that made sense to her ever since Missy's dramatic demonstration of the Nethersphere's version of a firewall that had vaporised one of their little group.

"What is it?"

Osgood couldn't help but ask, surprised when Missy didn't immediately make comparisons between her observational skills and that of doorknob. Instead she watched as the timelady reached up and laid her palm against the glass, stroking it gently, her eyes closing as her face seemed to fight for an expression it could agree on.

"Nothing… It was nothing...just a trick of the light or maybe an old ghost."

Missy's reply was barely a whisper and Osgood couldn't decide if The Master had intended to answer her or not.

"We should keep moving…there is still a long way to go."

Missy added this time her voice was once again her own and her face was once again back under her control and yet standing so close to her Osgood could see her hands were still trembling.

"Actually I think we could all do with a rest." Osgood suggested boldly, not sure why she was showing any kindness to her own murderer yet perhaps that was what made her better than Missy, that she could still be kind even when she didn't have to be.

"You can rest when you're dead."

"We are dead." Osgood retorted with a snort. "You killed us remember?"

Of all the reactions Osgood hadn't expected The Master to giggle; grab her by the throat for her impertinence yes, throw her head back and laugh no.

"That's right I did." Missy remarked when her giggles were back under control and she turned her ice blue eyes on the little earth scientist.

Squirming slightly Osgood felt her discomfort increase as Missy tilted her head to the side and looked at her, really looked at her, and for Osgood it almost felt like the timelady could look inside of her. Could see all of the secrets that Osgood tried so desperately to hide, could expose all her insecurities and laugh at them just like her sister had. Poor ugly unloved Osgood, the one with no friends and who thought staying in all the time playing with her silly experiments would ever amount to anything.

"You're too nice for your own good Skip." Missy sighed before reaching out and patronisingly patting the younger woman's cheek.

"You need to toughen up a little stop letting people walk all over you."

Freezing as she felt the other woman's cool touch almost caressing her skin Osgood couldn't restrain her impulse to bat the touch away. She didn't want…

"Stay out of my head!"

Osgood demanded surprised when this rude reaction caused Missy to smile broadly.

"Now that's my girl." The Master teased a sparkle returning to her blue eyes. "Not too difficult was it?"

"No." Osgood grudgingly admitted flushed with conflicting feelings of pride and revulsion at her own reaction to Missy's praise and approval. "And I am not your girl."

"Aren't you?" Missy questioned a smirk playing about her lips as Osgood glared back at her in defiance.

"Hmmm not yet perhaps but soon…very soon I think. I could show you the universe you know…all of space and time without The Doctor censoring all the interesting bits. I used to have companions too, well of a sort, more conquests but still…"

"I am not interested." Osgood retorted firmly denying to herself that she was even the slightest bit tempted.

Smiling coquettishly Missy reached out and tugged at the lapels of Osgood's lab coat, straightening it neatly in a familiar manner. "Well the offer stands…well at least until you start to bore me."

"Then I will endeavour to become as dull as I can as quickly as possible." Osgood muttered sullenly earning her another amused smile from Missy who seemed to take rejection in her stride.

"Oh it's going to be anything but dull I assure you…Tell me Skip how good are you at climbing?"

Thrown by the abrupt change of conversation Osgood could only stutter in confusion. "What?"

"No…How about falling?" Missy questioned innocently before answering for herself. "Well I suppose that comes naturally you'll catch on…"

Then before Osgood could scream a word of protest Missy seized her by the shoulders and pushed her clear through the plate glass window.

-/-


	8. Chapter 8

-/-

There was something there. The fact that The Master, that Missy, hadn't been lying stuck like a caw in The Doctor's throat even as he tried his best to swallow it down. Something caught midway between his head and his hearts; the irony did not escape him. Still it certainly wasn't Gallifrey and The Doctor stomach churned in bitterness at the disappointment, even if he hadn't expected it to be, a part of him still couldn't help the hoping.

Scanning the lump of rock that was neither comet nor meteorite, an artificial gravity keeping it in place, The Doctor quickly found the only thing on it that appeared to have been constructed and plugged the coordinates into the navcomputer. A moment later the Tardis sat down roughly on the uneven surface and satisfied that the environment was safe if not exactly hospitable The Doctor made his way to the Tardis doors. Only when he reached them the doors stuck under his hands.

"Now then don't you start." The Doctor muttered directing his impatience towards his one constant companion, feeling fluttering at the back of his mind.

"Look I am just going to take a quick look around." The Doctor added when the doors remained stubbornly closed.

"I will be back at the first sign of danger I promise." He sighed patting the wooden doors affectionately, relieved when this time they opened under his request, albeit slowly and grudgingly.

"Good girl I'll be back before you know it."

It was freezing when he stepped outside of the Tardis and the thin barely there atmosphere clawed at his lungs. Holding his coat close to his body The Doctor covered the few feet over to the entrance, crouching as he ran his sonic over what appeared at first glance to be little more than a manhole cover set into the rock face. Popping the simple lock mechanism The Doctor stared down into a unlit tunnel, simple metal rungs were set into the wall running down into the darkness and The Doctor could only guess how far down they went.

Climbing lovely…

Sighing he twisted his screwdriver setting and the little light on the end suddenly grew brighter, putting the sonic between his teeth he lowered himself down into the hole his long dexterous fingers closing tightly over the cold metal rungs, rough ridges biting into the flesh of his hands. Down and down he went until the top of the tunnel and the dull starlight could no longer be seen and all that was there was this small tunnel with its all-encompassing darkness broken only by the bright illumination from his screwdriver.

Pushing aside the worrying sensation of being confined and buried deeply in the earth The Doctor tried to keep his mind occupied.

He thought about Clara and wondered if P.E had worked out how to use the teleporter yet? The Doctor didn't exactly have the highest regard for Danny's intelligence but surely even he would work it out? At least his heart was in the right place and The Doctor no longer had any doubts that the boy truly loved her. They would be happy and The Doctor would do his best to be happy for them, it was selfish of him to resent Danny for swooping in and stealing Clara away, she had never really been his to claim, and she did care for him in her own way.

Yet when it came down to it her love for Danny was stronger than her affection for him and The Doctor had seen the bitter evidence of that first hand…the sting of betrayal was a feeling The Doctor was unfortunately all too familiar with recently. Clara and the Tardis keys, Kate and UNIT drugging and forcing him into a Presidency he did not want and would never have accepted unless coerced and as for her…

Though in her case he really only had himself to blame for ever expecting any different. Missy had never made him any promises; she hadn't lulled him into a state of false security only to reveal her true nature. He knew her true nature, new it better than anyone because it was the dark reflection of his own. It was a chilling reminder to The Doctor every time he was face to face with his old friend. It could have been him…

Rassilon and the High Council had chosen to fracture The Master's mind to save themselves but they could so easily have picked him instead. The Doctor could only imagine with horror what atrocities he would have committed had it been him who had looked into the schism of time and had his mind split by the drums of war.

What could The Master have been if he had been spared?

She was brilliant, had always been, had outshone him and all others at the academy and yet just like him she had been an outcast of sorts. Her isolated by her brilliance and him by his unnatural birth, they had been shunned by the others and had somehow ended up falling into a friendship.

_I need my friend back_

NO…He wouldn't, he couldn't think about that, not now, not here, not again. He needed to concentrate and he couldn't do that with his hearts breaking.

So it was with distinct relief that The Doctor's foot collided with solid ground. Turning around he ran his sonic over the surrounding walls, relieved when he heard the pop and hiss of an airlock and he was able to escape the small dark tunnel and step inside…

Freezing The Doctor couldn't believe what he was seeing. Reaching out hesitantly he took a handful of the long grass in his hand, running the texture against his fingers. It was real, the feel the smell was just as he remembered and The Doctor took in a lungful of oxygen rich air. The sky had to be some sort of holographic projection and yet it had been crafted by an expert eye, if The Doctor had been able to land his Tardis here he doubted he would have known it was a simulation and not the real thing.

In this distance the mountains of Solace and Solitude rose like giants from the grassy plane, the sparkle of silver in the summer sunlight giving the illusion of glittering snow on their majestic slopes. Yet it was the perfect representation of the citadel that really stole his breath. There was no ravage of the last war here and if he closed his eyes, listened to the sound of the wind rolling through the grasses. Breathing in the scent of home The Doctor could have almost convinced himself it had all been a bad dream; that any moment now Koschei would come running through the long grass, blue eyes laughing with mischief, calling out to The Doctor to hurry up or they would be late to class again.

Yet The Master would never return and that was the reason The Doctor was here in the first place.

Pushing aside his conflicting emotions The Doctor switched the setting on his sonic and immediately the little device began to bleep. This was the source of the signal, the command to kill The Master had come from somewhere inside this vision of perfection and serenity and that turned the taste of joy to ashes in his mouth.

Unsurprisingly the signal was coming from the citadel so that was where he would go, unable to answer the only question that was now resounding around in his head…if they were willing to murder The Master in cold blood, what exactly would they do with him a convicted traitor, the man responsible for Gallifrey's fate, given the chance?

-/-


	9. Chapter 9

-/-

It was amusing watching them, like rats in a maze responding to each change in their environment, they each had their own way of dealing with things and The Master couldn't help but find them fascinating to watch, this bizarre little group she had assembled. The soldier off in front methodically tackling this challenge a step at a time whilst doing his best to guide and support the others.

His determination to return to his beloved Clara, a thusly rid Missy of the irritation of The Doctor's latest companion, was the only thing keeping Missy from killing him for having ruined her plans. The Doctor conquering the universe now what a twist in the tale that would have been…

Her adorable Dr Chang, it was like kicking a puppy. He had been so eager to learn and it had felt nice to have someone to look up and admire her after all those years…there…

Missy wondered if that was why The Doctor kept on taking companions even if they broke his hearts every time one was lost. Goodness knows he was a slow learner for a timelord but even he must have realised that mortal pets inevitably led to goodbyes; so clearly there had to be more to it than simply having someone to worship you?

And well she shouldn't admit to having favourites but…

The Master had chosen to hang back to the back of the group, having ordered them to climb to the top of what appeared to be the tallest building in the Nethersphere. She was old fashioned after all and couldn't be doing with having any of those mortals staring up her skirt. Besides it gave her the opportunity to watch their progress or in the case of her delightful Osgood a distinct lack of progress.

Hooking her hand around a support strut Missy easily swung herself up and over to where her latest pet had seemingly frozen, her arms gripping onto a service pipe for dear life eyes clenched shut, and Missy smirked as she caught a snatch of muffled noises that almost sounded like praying.

"You're praying to the wrong timelord my dear." Missy gloated, her manic smirk sliding off her face as Osgood seemed entirely insensible to her arrival, and that irritated her, irked her, she wasn't accustomed to being ignored. "You're being awfully quiet Skip normally I can't be shutting you up. Don't tell me you've developed a fear of heights"

"You pushed me out a window." Osgood's reply was muffled by terror and the pipe that she seemed intent of fusing herself to.

"What are you moaning about you didn't die!" The Master snorted, these earth girls were so dramatic. The Doctor fell out of a plane and you didn't see him whingeing about it.

"No but I thought I was going to, again, because of you."

Finally there was a bite, The Master smiled, pleased as Osgood opened her eyes even if it was only to scowl somewhat wobbly at her. But the Master gave her some credit for the attempt; it was a little difficult to get good and vindictive when you were clearly terrified out of your wits.

"Exactly it was a joke…and you should have seen your face…"

"Hysterical I'm laughing on the inside."

"Honestly earth girls no sense of humour, I really can't understand what The Doctor sees in you...well apart from the obvious…" The Master drawled suggestively, surprised when Osgood actually looked confused.

"Which is?"

Rolling her eyes at such naivety Missy couldn't help but laugh. "That you're pretty, mortal, no threat to him intellectually…oh and have a disturbing propensity to massage his ego and god knows what else."

"You are disgusting."

"Just telling it like it is sister. Now have you finished playing the damsel in distress Skip? The Doctor is not coming to save you, only you can do that so move it!" Missy ordered pleasantly surprised when Osgood actually moved to obey, taking a deep breath before inching her way up the pipe.

"Honestly at the rate you're going even I will be grey before we get to the top….You need to stretch." Missy chastised throwing her own hand up and digging her nails into any slight purchase that would afford her traction.

"Forgive me for not taking advice from a lunatic." Osgood muttered under her breath yet from the wide smile The Master threw in her direction the timelady had clearly heard every word.

Gritting her teeth Osgood reached down into reserves of strength and bravery she didn't realise she had. She was not going to let this beat her; she was not going to let Missy win. She was going to get the hell out of this place and she was going to convince The Doctor that she should be his next companion. She just had to keep looking up, not down…never down.

Flinging out her hand she grabbed a hand hold and pulled herself up another foot and then another, slow and steady does it. She wasn't exactly closing the gap on the others but at least it had stopped growing and Osgood felt absurdly proud of herself. She was ready, she had brains and courage, she could be a companion…

Perhaps he hadn't really meant it?

No The Doctor was nothing like her sister's friends, he wouldn't raise her hopes only to expose her at her most vulnerable not like James Kendrick at the sixth form disco confessing loudly to anyone who would listen that he had only invited her because he owed Osgood's pretty perfect sister Stacey a favour.

As if able to read the bent of her thoughts The Master turned and grinned and Osgood was filled with righteous fury on The Doctor's behalf.

"You're wrong the Doctor is nothing like that…His companions are champions, protecting the earth from people like you, they are not fluff or window dressing."

"I am not saying The Doctor doesn't make the best of them but he doesn't go around picking them for their stellar credentials, I mean please let's run down his latest selections shall we? A doe eyed school teacher, whilst a noble profession it is hardly nuclear fission…Before that oh yes a model and part time stripper gram!" The Master scoffed watching as the scales began to drop from Osgood's eyes, enjoying the souring of such innocent belief, it was like a fine wine kept for years in cellar now uncorked and allowed to breathe for her delectation.

"Shut up…"

"Then before her there was the big busted temp, the love struck trainee doctor, oh yes and the shop girl." The Master ticked them all off on her manicured fingers, able to maintain her hold on the building with one hand and a carefully wedged boot.

"And I suppose you chose Lucy for her skills in science and engineering?"

"Someone really did do their homework I see." Missy grinned. "No I considered her for her family connections, money and position in society, I chose her in particular over the other suitable candidates because she had at least completed her education with reasonable success and was an interesting conversationalist."

"And that she was blonde and pretty had nothing to do with it?" Osgood scoffed.

"Do I detect a wee note of jealousy there Skip?" Missy teased enjoying the way her pet's face convulsed. "Come now it's just us girls together, you can tell me…"

"Go to hell." Osgood spluttered pushing on with her climb determined to ignore anything else that came out of The Master's mouth as she quickly overtook her.

It wasn't fair to bring up Harold Saxon and his brief period as Minister of Defence and then Prime Minister, the time before anyone had realised just who he really was. The man had been brilliant and there had been more than a few members of unit crushing on the cute charismatic politician who had shown an unusual level of interest and insight into their work. Osgood would admit to herself, and only to herself, a few moments of fangirl excitement when Saxon had visited the research base alongside his advisors. The man had just seemed to get them, and whilst he spoke Osgood had actually believed that the human race would one day soon be unshackled from the confines of this singular planet and that the universe would be theirs to explore.

It had been a bitter blow when the truth had come out. The Master had been using them; once again the human race was merely a pawn in his never-ending battle with The Doctor. Yet this time it stung deeper because the wound had been personal, because The Master had used their trust and their innocence against them. He had taken the hopes and dreams of the human race and laughed at them and they had let him do it…

She had let him do it…

Blinking back tears of shame Osgood refused to let them fall…

Osgood had voted for Saxon just like they all had, she had proudly ticked the voting box beside his party name and had gone home with her heart full of hope and excitement that tomorrow would be the dawn of a new world…and it had, just not the one Osgood had been dreaming of.

Freeing one hand to brush at her cheeks, wiping away the tears that escaped, Osgood glared at the damn skyscraper through blurred vision yet hearing Missy closing on her forced her onward. She reached up, pushing up with her feet and stretching for the next ledge her fingers closed around the edge and she lifted one foot blindly scrabbling for a foothold through fogged up glasses, catching something she went to lever herself up and her toehold slipped.

Flailing against the tower held up by only her fingertips Osgood couldn't contain the scream that burst from her throat, her fingers giving way and the sensation of falling once more causing her stomach to shoot up into her mouth. Only this time there would be no convenient balcony complete with Scandinavian designed patio furniture sitting on the floor below.

Yet a vice like grip stopped her sudden descent and Osgood could only stare upward in mute stupefaction at her most unlikely saviour. The Master's grip on her wrist was crushing and Osgood could feel the screaming of the ligaments in her arm and shoulder, yet it was better than being splattered all over the Nethersphere. Still she was more than relieved when the time lady pulled her up and wedged her somehow between her body and the cool surface of the skyscraper.

Unable to stop the tears from flowing now Osgood literally shook with them, insensible to the shushing noises or the hair petting that Missy was doing in a bizarre effort to sooth her.

"Silly Skip." Missy tutted, scrunching her nose in disgust as the little human actually snorted her snotty nose and rubbed it against the sleeve of her lab coat; humans really were a walking germ factory. "Come on now stop being a baby up you go."

"No!" Osgood insisted stubbornly. She wasn't playing this game anymore.

"You'll never get out if you don't…"

"I don't care, I'll stay dead." Osgood interjected causing Missy to scowl at being interrupted. "You can't make me!"

"Oh can't I?" The Master sneered, fingers that had been gently stroking through Osgood's hair now turned savage and Osgood whimpered as they dug into her temples and The Master's mind slivered into hers like water into the cracks. Osgood tried to fight back, it was instinctive and yet it was futile. Missy would brook no disobedience and Osgood felt her will being swept aside as easily as an elephant would a fly and Osgood could taste The Master's disgust at her weakness…so why…

_Why did you save me?_

The question reverberating around in Osgood's head as The Master took systematic control of her motor functions and forced her body to climb. Yet always the timelady remained carefully within reach as they mastered the long climb.

_Why…Why?_

Osgood pleaded into the mental link surprised when The Master seemed to pause, a flicker of surprise echoing through the link and Osgood caught the fleeting impression of an answer.

_I don't know._

-/-


	10. Chapter 10

-/-

Something didn't smell right.

Why build such a giant reconstruction and have it empty?

Wandering through the empty streets The Doctor could only marvel at the detail at the effort that had been invested into this charade. He rubbed his hands over the intricate detailing on the porticos as he walked under them, every carved detail of the many victories of the timelords stood in perfect relief. Even the swirling representation of the schism of time glittered in the light cast by the two suns as The Doctor followed the signal and stepped inside the cool majesty of the hall of elders.

Was he supposed to have been fooled?

Had this been part of The Master's plan when she gave him the coordinates and then offered to accompany him? Would she have landed them inside the recreation allowing The Doctors own desire to be home to convince him this was Gallifrey?

Questions Questions, every step provoked more and yielded no answers.

The signal was pulling him down, the vaults…the impenetrable vaults of the timelords where they kept their most precious and dangerous artefacts; vaults that had never been breached, not until he had stolen The Moment that is. Shivering in the much cooler air as they descended The Doctor couldn't help but feel the weight of eyes on him. Unseen and yet somehow he knew he wasn't alone.

The vault doors were open. It was a trap, obviously so and The Doctor frowned as he scanned the ancient doors, his thick grey eyebrows meeting in a conference of confusion as the lock read as inactive, the power that sustained them diverted. The signal led inside. Stepping through the doors and into the long vault The Doctor waited with baited breath for the doors to suddenly come to life, to swing closed behind him and entomb him and when they did not he felt a sense of anti-climactic disappointment.

Annoyed and impatient The Doctor despised the feeling of being played with, lashing out he knocked an ornately decorated vase from a pedestal, satisfied when at least that made a noise as it shattered into a thousand pieces on the stone floor.

"You know I can keep doing that one at a time." The Doctor called out, he had so little with which to go on but the theme of detail of exquisite workmanship had to mean something to someone and he was done playing these games.

Reaching out he picked up another artefact. This time a delicate scroll, faded brushstrokes in Gallifreian script dominated the page, Omega's first treatise on time travel, priceless in his world so much so that students were only permitted to stare at a replica in the academy museum. Now he ground the fragile scroll to dust under his fingers, watching as fragments floated away.

Clearly that got someone's attention as force fields suddenly burst into life around the other pedestals protecting their treasures from his wanton destruction.

"You don't like that…someone damaging your toys." The Doctor sneered. "Well I don't like being led by the nose show yourself!"

There was no verbal answer, The Doctor hadn't honestly expected one but the vault lights suddenly began to go out until only one at the far end was lit. The message was clear, that was where he was expected to go and The Doctor did hate to disappoint his audience.

Striding quickly down the hallway The Doctor finally stopped dead in the light, his breath literally stolen away.

No that wasn't possible…she was dead…he had seen her die…Yet when had a little thing like death ever stopped The Master in the past?

Putting his hand on the cell door The Doctor tried to rationalise what he was seeing, to move past the emotional reaction yet even he hadn't hardened his hearts to such a point.

"Master." The name escaped his lips and yet it gained no reaction from the emaciated figure curled up inside.

Running his hand through his hair The Doctor tugged at the grey strands looking about wildly for the control box, a locking mechanism, anything to open the damn door.

Lifting his sonic The Doctor scanned the door, cursing when a dampening field prevented him from gaining any sort of reading. All save one, the source of the signal was inside that room.

"No I am not falling for this." The Doctor yelled up at ceiling. "You may think you are smarter than me but you miscalculated I saw her die."

"Theta?" The weak tremulous voice cut his certainty off at the knees and The Doctor could only watch in horror as his oldest friend dragged herself across the floor towards him, well at least as far as her heavy chains would let her. "Doctor is that really you?"

"You're not real." The Doctor insisted even as his gaze raked over her, the roughly shorn hair, the emaciated frame that poked out at sharp angles from beneath a frayed and bloodied hoodie that was worryingly familiar…blue eyes bloodshot and pleading as the owner could barely lift her head up and the collar…the shock collar that The Doctor recalled in horrifying detail.

_It had been so vivid…the cold…the texture of the collar under his fingertips…_

Bait…She was the cheese in the trap. The one enticement that The Doctor could not be expected to resist, the suffering of his own kind, his oldest friend…

"No you're not real." The Master repeated a sob before collapsing once more in a heap on the floor. "Stop playing these games, you already won there is nothing more I can tell you. Just leave me to die in peace."

Crouching down so that their eyes were level The Doctor pleaded. "Koschei it's really me…Tell me what is this place…who is behind this?"

Yet clearly his credulity was stretched as The Master didn't so much as twitch this time. "Please it really is me Koschei, I am going to get you out of there I promise just as soon as I work out how."

Only right now The Doctor had no idea just how he was going to accomplish that.

-/-


	11. Chapter 11

-/-

She shouldn't have gone prying. Yet curiosity had always been Osgood's worst weakness and it had been so boring just floating here inside her own head whilst Missy used her body like a marionette. She had never seen inside her own mind before, it was like being trapped on a rollercoaster with no off switch or worse like being one of those little metal balls inside a pinball machine, once she had started moving there was no stopping and she had bounced from memory to memory.

One moment she was a small child playing with a toy that Stacie had left on the floor before her sister returned to snatch it back from her, pushing Osgood down on the floor and knocking her glasses askew. Then she was at university taking a sip of strong alcohol as she wound up the courage to shrug off of the dress she had borrowed from one of her dorm mates and join the boy from her chemistry class under the sheets. It was disconcerting in the extreme and Osgood couldn't help but feel dizzy and unsettled.

She just wanted it to stop…she wanted her body back…her mind back to herself…

By contrast Missy's presence in her mind was like streaks of lightening across a dark landscape. The timelady's presence burning bright and Osgood hadn't been able to resist the urge to reach out and touch.

Just a child's curiosity, like being mesmerised by the way a flame danced, the pretty lights and wondering what it felt like to touch…

It was like being sucked into a tornado and Osgood thought her mind might split from the sudden influx of thoughts and feelings not her own. She caught a glimpse of waves of red grass blowing in the wind, of a handsome young face laughing as he joined another young man in a wild dance between silvery trees their bodies coming together and blurring. She saw wonders that were beyond her imaginings and horrors that made her own fears seem childish by comparison.

For one brief moment she was everywhere and everything, she understood it all and it felt incredible…Like she was Go…

With a mental scream of outrage and fury echoing in her brain Osgood was brutally ejected and flung onto the cold steel balcony platform. The force of the impact knocked the air and her delusions out of her and Osgood cried out in pain; from the shock, from the loss of all that wonder and the knowledge that as long as she lived she would never experience something like that again.

Yet if that wasn't bad enough, looking up into the cold unhinged face of The Master unleashed that alone would have caused her to scream…if she had been able to…

The vice like grip of Missy's hands about her throat as she straddled her victim pinning Osgood to the floor left no such option. There was no spark of recognition in those blue eyes just fury and bloodlust. The Master had lost even a semblance of control.

Reaching up Osgood didn't waste her effort in trying to pry those talons from around her throat, the stronger than human grip and higher bone density of the timelords would make them a match for most humans even those considerably taller or heavier. Osgood had no such advantages and even the basic self-defence training all UNIT operatives had to undertake as part of their mandatory annual review couldn't help her once confronted with an opponent like The Master.

Instead she brushed her fingers across the timelady's temple pushing out the last thought she might ever think…

_I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…_

There just wasn't the words. Osgood had never been good with words always stumbling over the right thing to say, so instead she pushed her feelings, her hopes, her dreams everything and anything that was her. It was probably futile, just the lingering desperation of an oxygen deprived mind…only…only she didn't need to breath.

The realisation was slow in coming but when it arrived it fired neurons in Osgood's brain.

They were in a data cloud; all these surroundings were just the electrical impulses of her stored memory engrams trying to interpret the digital world around her. Yet there was no oxygen here, no real need to breath, only the lingering attachment to the action that she remembered from being alive.

She wasn't going to die; at least not from strangulation…she probably wouldn't have even died from falling either. None of this was real…

Staring up calmly into Missy's eyes Osgood noticed the moment the timelady seemed to come back to herself, it wasn't a dramatic shift, yet there was a discernible change; one moment she wasn't there and then she just was. The bruising grip on her neck was released ever so slightly and Osgood could only watch as Missy tilted her head and studied her closely, piercing blue eyes studying every little molecule as if an experiment she was conducting had suddenly turned up erroneous results.

"Well isn't that interesting." Missy commented only Osgood doubted it had been for her benefit as the timelady continued to twist her head and examine Osgood from every available angle.

"You really are surprising for an ape." Missy added pushing herself up until only her presence straddling Osgood's stomach was restraining the younger woman.

Reaching up Osgood couldn't resist the reflex to rub her sore throat. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to…well pry…I just got a little lost…"

Scowling Missy leaned back down and for a moment Osgood was terrified what the timelady might do now since her original plan to murder her again had failed.

"Bad dog!" Missy hissed lifting one carefully manicured nail and flicking it hard against the tip of Osgood's nose.

Wincing Osgood covered her nose with her hand and nodded, taking in a deep breath she didn't really need when Missy finally stood up and regally brushed down her skirts, sauntering inside the building as if nothing had happened.

"Heel Skip."

It wasn't a request and Osgood didn't even consider being difficult even if Missy's choice of command struck something hard and stubborn inside of her. Now wasn't the time to jeopardise things not when they were so close.

Following Missy inside Osgood could only marvel at what clearly had to be the central processing unit of the Nethersphere, the walls were covered in screens, some displayed data readouts, others showed images of earth…there was even and Osgood blinked one screen that seemed to be live streaming from UNIT headquarters. No wonder The Master had been expecting them if she had been able to listen in on their every move.

Missy however was not interested in any of those her attention was focused on one console that looked like it didn't belong alongside all of the sleek earth looking tech, it was clunky almost organic looking, clearly alien in origin. There was a large circle set down in the middle and the dish seemed to be reflective as if filled with water.

"What is that?" Osgood couldn't help but ask, her surprised when Missy even bothered to reply considering she was clearly in the dog house.

"The way out pet. Now shush I am trying to concentrate you don't want to return to a matter based form and be one tenth your usual size do you?"

Scowling Osgood could only cross her arms and wait her eyes scanning the room and then it occurred to her, a slow building realisation that something about this felt off somehow... something was missing… "Missy where are the others?"

-/-


	12. Chapter 12

-/-

His hands were bleeding and he hadn't noticed, not until it made his hands too slippery to grip properly and The Doctor couldn't deny the irony of the situation. These were wounds that he had gained indirectly by The Master's hands when he had unleashed his grief and rage on the Tardis console and now they wept open once more but this time as he sought to save her.

He had tried everything, the sonic was useless, a frantic search of the surroundings yielded no control he could manipulate and now even blunt force had failed. All the while The Doctor could feel the weight of invisible mocking eyes on him, studying, measuring and finding him wanting. Frustrated and exhausted The Doctor sank down against the cell door resting his head against the smooth surface that allowed him to see in but stalwartly kept him out.

The Master hadn't moved since their last exchange, she hadn't even flinched when The Doctor began to beat his fists against the thick glass panels. There had to be something he was missing and The Doctor knew if anyone would be able to help him then it was her. He just had so many questions that needed answers, questions that he should have asked when he had the chance on the aeroplane.

How had she escaped Gallifrey before it was locked away in the pocket dimension?

Yet he had been so angry with her, his initial twisted joy once he had gotten over the shock of finding her alive alive had mutated to blind rage.

Missy had pranced and preened and killed for his attention and he had gained satisfaction from doing his best to ignore her, outwardly he had dismissed her turning his attention to poor Osgood and Kate, yet inwardly he had begun to make plans. He had once given her the choice of leaving him with him, this time there would be no choice and a dark possessive part of his psyche that The Doctor shied away from had shivered.

"Master." The Doctor called out to the other time lord his voice carrying a note of pleading that normally would have had him cringing. "Help me please I don't know what else to do. What is this place, who is keeping you here?

"Leave." The word was whispered yet there was no denying it was still a command. "Leave Doctor whilst you still might be able to."

"Do you really think I could do that?" The Doctor could only shake his head in disbelief, yet part of him soared with relief as The Master lifted her head from the floor and actually looked at him, not through him, but at him.

"I am not asking you I am telling you…Go…I don't need your help or your pity."

Pressing his palm against the glass The Doctor tried to inch himself as close as he could as if he could somehow fuse himself with the glass and reach through and touch her. "It is not pity that moves me to help an old friend Koschei…"

"That is no longer my name Doctor any more than Theta is yours…"

"It was our name, you gave it to me remember?" The Doctor prodded unable to simply let this drop. "What happened to you, how are you here?"

"I died." The Master replied simply as if that answered everything her eyes nervously flickering around her cell as if suddenly afraid of the deep shadows. "You know I died you were there…I died for you remember."

"I saw you vanish with Gallifrey when it returned to the time lock." The Doctor replied softly. "And you are not the only one who died that day averting a radiation leak took care of that."

That at least elicited a half smile, yet it faded quickly as though the mere effort of maintaining it exhausted her. "I honestly don't know how I escaped Gallifrey, I died, I regenerated and I woke up in a cell in the dark…with this." She added fingers reaching up to touch the metal collar snug around her neck.

"But you must have seen…Who did this?"

"I…I can't tell you."

"You can tell me." The Doctor insisted only able to watch as The Master quickly became agitated her fragile limbs literally shaking.

"No..No…No." She hissed her fingers gripping the edge of the collar as she began to rock. "I won't tell…I won't…No more questions…Leave…you have to leave."

"Not without you…don't you see I can't do it, I can't be alone anymore." The Doctor snapped banging his bloodied hands against the glass before turning his rage and desperation at their unseen observer.

"Is this what you wanted to see? To have me beg?" The Doctor bellowed. "You coward you can't even face me, you starve and torture her and you won't even show your face. Why are you doing this, what do you want?"

There was only mocking silence as a reply yet The Doctor knew he had been heard, it was almost oppressive the sensation of being watched now…almost angry…and The Doctor prepared himself.

Yet it was The Master who began screaming.

"No." The Doctor turned, all colour draining from his face as he could only watch helpless.

The Master was writhing on the floor of her cell, her fingers and neck bloodied as she tried to claw off the metal collar that was sending wave after wave of strong current through her body. The scent of burning hair and skin muddied the air and The Doctor could only gag.

"Stop this…Stop hurting her…I was the one who provoked you…Just stop…Please…" The Doctor screamed himself hoarse, sinking down to his knees as he pressed against the glass, unable to hold back the moisture that sprang to his eyes as The Master's head now lolled senseless to one side and her body tensed and jerked like a marionette with its strings being yanked.

"Please I'll do anything." The Doctor whispered his forehead pressed against the cell door which suddenly and unexpected gave slightly, a tell-tale click of the lock.

So that was the price.

It really wasn't much of a choice but it was his to make.

Climbing to his feet The Doctor pushed open the cell door, crossing the ground to where The Master still convulsed he removed his sonic he began to work to remove it, choosing to block out the sound of the door locking firmly behind him.

He was trapped.

Held prisoner in this perfect recreation of Gallifrey hidden deep inside a rock floating in deep space.

Finally the shock collar unfastened and dropped heavily onto the floor of the cell and The Doctor was able to safely gather the insensible Master gently in his arms, tucking her tiny freezing form against the warm solidity of his chest. Absorbing her unintelligible whimpers he cradled her like a child, hands gently stroking the butchered remains of her hair and massaging out the withered remains of cramped muscles.

Pressing his forehead to hers out of instinct or some lingering want The Doctor was shocked by the complete absence of her once formidable mental shields. The Master had been the best of them, the strongest mentally, and now he could if he wanted waltz inside her mind and pick it over. Instead he hovered at the outskirts, like an uncertain guest at the threshold after finding the front door unlocked.

_Master_

The Doctor whispered her name into the mental abyss, his relief overwhelming him when a moment or so later he felt a rush of emotions back from her, disbelief…relief…concern…frustration…even chastisement…

_Silly…Doctor_

Smiling like a fool who had nothing left to lose The Doctor laughed at her rebuke even as he sank greedily into the luxurious complexity of her thought patterns. Imprisonment would have been worth it just for the sensation of having that empty part of him suddenly alive and full again.

_You should have left me now we are both doomed_

_No…Never…_

The Doctor insisted, not caring if he came across needy and desperate. He had once screamed at her to live, had cried over her body when she refused. There was no use in pretending otherwise. It had been over a millennia since he had held another's mind or felt a double heartbeat at his breast that wasn't his own. Surely by now she must understand how it felt? The last time she had been newly regenerated fresh from the horrors of the time war; there had not been time to truly acclimatise to the reality of what it meant to have survived.

_We're the last_

The Doctor repeated, hoping that this time The Master would be able to understand. Yet of all the reactions he hadn't expected for her to stiffen with fear, her thoughts suddenly turning chaotic and panicked and The Doctor had to fight to stop himself from drowning in them. Pulling back into the sanctuary of his own mind, he was left reeling by her parting comment, her mental fingernails scoring a fresh bloody wound across his psyche.

_No we're not_

-/-


	13. Chapter 13

-/-

"Missy where are the others?"

For a moment the question hung between them and then a slow exaggerated clapping broke the silence.

"Bravo I must admit I am almost impressed."

Whirling around Osgood gasped as an amiable faced man in a beige suit seemed to appear out of the walls, his image flickering slightly which caused him to frown and punch a few commands into the iPad he was carrying in the crook of his arm. The illusion dropping around the room with was now filled with static filled monitors and the comatose forms of their travelling companions.

"Seb." Missy greeted the new arrival amiably as one might an old friend and yet Osgood had learnt quickly not to trust the timelady's smiles.

"Rebooted yourself I see." Missy tutted. "Those early versions of your programming had so many glitches it's a wonder you managed to retain a form at all."

"No thanks to you Mistress." Seb replied tartly. "It might not have been so trying if a certain someone hadn't deleted me."

"Now don't be like that poppet if you'd like Mummy to fix it all you have to do is ask nicely…go on say something nice."

"How about no?" Seb replied sarcastically punching in another few commands into his iPad with a smile. "Besides I rather think it is your turn."

"Ahh it's amazing how quickly they grow up, one moment they're nothing more than a basic interface and now look at you my boy all grown up and plotting plans of evil all on your own." Missy sighed reaching up to dramatically wipe a fake tear from her eye. "I am just so proud."

"Save the dramatics for the critics." Seb sneered. "Since you love surprises so much I thought the least I could devise one as a parting gift...Enjoy…" He added turning around the iPad screen so its contents were visible to the gallery.

_**C Chang…**_

_**F. Franklin…**_

_**O. Osgood…**_

_**D. Pink…**_

_**Missy…**_

**DELETE ALL**

"Well well well that is interesting. Well done poppet." Missy mused her blue eyes glinting wickedly as her AI seemed to preen a little under the praise.

"Thank you."

"And you came up with this all by yourself? You've not been copying off of anyone else have you?" Missy teased watching as Seb's face seemed to crumple like a small child who had been accused at cheating on a test. "Alright then poppet I'll play along, what do you want?"

"What makes you think I want anything…maybe I just wanted to beat you…" Seb replied innocently.

"Oh please." Missy laughed leaning back against the console as if she hadn't a care in the world. "You could have popped into secure storage and deleted us then if revenge was all you were after."

"Fine there might be one little thing." Seb admitted slowly holding up his fingers to emphasise the smallness of his favour, glancing up at his creator coyly from under thick dark eyebrows, rubbing his fingers together in barely restrained excitement and Missy's smile grew exponentially.

"Well go on you have the floor don't keep us all in suspense."

Bouncing slightly Seb all but gushed his reply. "I want to come too…when you leave..."

"What?" Osgood spluttered reminding the two plotting villains of her presence. "Where? You can't mean to earth?"

"For starters but I doubt I'll stay there…poky little backwater of a planet." Seb sniffed looking down his nose at his Mistresses latest pet, the one who had swooped in and taken his place in his brief absence.

Where had she been during the last five hundred odd years hmm? Not stuck in the Nethersphere having to process the multitude of human dead who turned up on the hour every hour, it was so tedious, and Seb was bored from having to repeat the same conversation over and over and over again…humans were so very tedious.

"But how is that possible you're just a computer programme…"

"And you're just a sack of water but there is no need to get personal." Seb huffed barely resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at the interloper.

"Now children play nicely." Missy chastised a smile playing about her lips. They really were adorable the pair of them scrapping for her attention…perhaps she should keep them both? "So Pinocchio wants to be a real boy?"

"I would say that would be an adequate reward for a lifetime of services rendered, Yes." Seb replied genially before adding and waving about his iPad of death like it merely showed the latest football scores. "Not to mention my little incentive here…"

"You know I can't just put you through the teleporter, you don't have the level of detail required in your file for one." Missy lectured her blue eye narrowing as she considered the possibilities as she tapped her red fingernails against her chin.

"Of course I could use one of the detailed scans from one of the dead humans, I'd have to find some way of converting one of the cyber interfaces to allow your AI intelligence to survive in the new environment but it's doable...It would take time to recompile the data though…"

"Or you could use one of them." Seb suggested helpfully pointing to the comatose forms around them.

"See I knew there was a reason I kept you around all these years." Missy exclaimed in delight as her eyes roamed her fallen travelling companions.

"Wait…what…No…" Osgood spluttered and stumbled and struggled to keep up. "You can't mean…you can't just steal one of their bodies."

"Well why not?" Seb huffed. "They're dead they don't need it anymore."

"They aren't completely dead not when there is a way for them to go back." Osgood argued turning to Missy. "Please don't do this; you said there was another way."

"Well yes but that would take ages to sort out and honestly we are on the clock here Skip."

"Besides if I don't get my body they are all deleted anyway. So it really is the lessor of two evils…the needs of the many…" Seb added helpfully, pleased when his Mistress turned and bestowed a proud smile on him.

"Exactly."

"So do I get to pick?" Seb could barely contain his excitement, his eyes flickering maliciously in Osgood's direction, and the young scientist backed away from him nervously.

"Now now be nice Seb dear." Missy chuckled. "Besides trust me you wouldn't want the complications of being a woman and I'm sorry but Mr Pink is also off of the list I still have use for him."

Pouting like a child denied a sweet Seb could only turn his attention to his two remaining options…well honestly there really was only one viable choice. "Well then it will have to be Dr Chang I suppose."

"A fine choice." Missy concurred turning her attention back to the console. "Now let me see…"

"Wait please wait!" Osgood begged rushing over to the timelady's side. "Please don't do this…there has to be another way…I mean you have a tardis what does it matter if things take a little longer?"

"Honestly Skip I thought you had done your homework, you know full well I can't go back in my own timeline and I have places to be…"

"People to kill…" Seb interjected his smile growing as Osgood glared at him.

"But…but can't you just make a copy? I mean can't you save a copy of Dr Chang's file and use that instead?" Osgood suggested.

"Yes but then there would be two of me running about." Seb huffed. "I don't like the idea of that at all."

"Humans manage." Osgood retorted turning her brown eyes on The Master who was eyeing her like she was being interesting again.

"I mean identical twins seem to cope and I even have a duplicate after that encounter with the Zygons and she has managed just fine…better than fine I mean she isn't even human she has managed to make more out of her life than I have."

Pouting sympathetically Missy reached out and patted Osgood's cheek. "Now now stop running yourself down Skip I told you confidence is the key."

"Please." Osgood begged. "Just please."

Her smile growing by epic proportions Missy ran her fingers across the ape's cheek before reaching up to stroke the loose bits of hair back from Osgood's face twirling them around her dexterous fingers. "You'll have to do better than that dearie, what will you give me in return for this little favour?"

For a moment Osgood drew a blank, what could she possibly offer that The Master would value?

"I'll…I'll…"

"Oh look you broke her." Seb sneered from the sidelines yet Osgood ignored him and wracked her brain for an answer.

"I'll be your companion." The words were out of her mouth before Osgood could stop them and from the gleeful way The Master's eyes lit up this was not an offer she was going to be able to just retract.

"Oh how very self-sacrificing of you Skip, you'll let me show you all of time and space, and this is supposed to be a favour for me?" Missy teased.

"And…and I'll tell The Doctor!" Osgood exclaimed her dark eyes glowing as she stumbled upon what she knew was Missy's Achilles heel. She had seen the two of them interacting in the aeroplane, she had read the files on The Doctor's past encounters with The Master and more importantly she had briefly been inside The Master's head.

Digging her fingernails roughly into Osgood's messy hairdo Missy dragged the unresisting wincing girl closer. "You'll tell The Doctor what Skip?"

"That I'm choosing you, to travel with you over him, that you saved me saved us all and I wanted to stay with you."

Dropping Osgood suddenly Missy could only stare at the human. "He wouldn't believe you."

"I could convince him…I mean it's not so unbelievable, you said it yourself you used to travel with companions."

"I believe I used the word conquests Skip." Missy replied wryly watching as the delightful girl blushed deeply, such an innocent. It was tempting, not that Missy believed the ape would be able to convince her Doctor of anything but it would torment him delightfully knowing that his latest choice had slipped through his fingers.

"Well I confess your offer intrigues me; it's a deal." Missy pronounced gleefully holding out her hand watching as Osgood swallowed down any outward feelings of panic before placing her hand in The Masters and shaking on their agreement.

Yet there was no hiding the way her pulse raced or her fake palms were starting to sweat, Osgood knew it and worse The Master knew that she knew that she knew it.

Turning back to the teleporter The Master began to manically flip switches with what now appeared to be a permanent grin on her face.

"My my, this is going to be fun."

-/-


	14. Chapter 14

-/-

He couldn't remember falling asleep.

He remembered The Master falling asleep, her tiny hands fisted in his jacket as though holding on to him for dear life. Yet in that case he was just as guilty, even softening his grip to account for her unusual fragility The Doctor's long fingered hands had been spread across her back trying to hold as much of her as he could in the span of his hands.

Flexing those fingers now as he groggily came to, the sensation of open air against his palms sent a surge of adrenaline through his body which snapped taut.

He couldn't move his hands…

Blue grey eyes snapped open before slamming shut as dazzling bright lights temporarily blinded him, contributing to the increasing pressure in his head as The Doctor tried to push past the panic and the unnatural grogginess that was fogging his brain…drugged…he had been drugged somehow.

His tongue was coated in a toxic tasting residue and his stomach was rolling as though he had left the brakes on the Tardis again.

"Finally decided to join us Doctor?"

He knew that voice, the mocking superior condescension. Yet how could he be here? He was trapped on Gallifrey…

"Does Sleeping Beauty require a few more minutes?"

Grunting past the pain The Doctor forced his eyes open, ignoring the urge to wince and avoid the bright light bearing down on him he twisted his head as much as his restraints would let him. Staring past the light as dark shadows danced across his vision he tried to focus and the finally the rest of the room began to appear.

There standing with a satisfied expression on his face was Rassilon in all his bedecked and pompous glory.

"So glad you could finally join us Doctor, my party really wouldn't be complete without the guest of honour."

"What do you want?" The Doctor spat past the foul taste in his mouth. "Why am I here?"

"Why to witness my victory of course." Rassilon replied. "I have been waiting such a long time for you to work it out Doctor that I am afraid I grew a little impatient and decided to take matters into my own hands and clearly my plan has…will bear fruit since you are here as I requested."

"What do you mean, you didn't invite me here…"

"Didn't I?" Rassilon smirked before turning his back on The Doctor and walking outside of his range of vision.

"I know you didn't remain at the academy to complete your education Doctor but I would have thought even such a pathetic excuse for a timelord such as yourself can understand that when it comes to timetravel effect can precede cause? Or has your time spent rolling the in dirt with that pathetic excuse of a species turned your thinking plebeianly linear?"

"My understanding is not at fault here your..." The Doctor spat back yet his words died in his throat as Rassilon returned to his line of sight only this time he wasn't alone.

By his side standing gaunt and staring blankly ahead was The Master…No The Mistress…her blue eyes showed no recognition in them and yet The Doctor recognised her, the familiar deep purple outfit was back, even the cameo at her throat. The only discernible difference between the timelady in front of him and the one he had battled on earth was the roughly shorn hair and the thinness of her frame.

"What have you done to her?"

"I broke her." Rassilon replied simply, a small smile tugging at his lips as he circled his carefully forged weapon. "Over and over again just because I could, because what else can you do with a mad dog but beat it? And then I rebuilt her to carry out my will, and as soon as she completes her task...well then there will be one less rogue timelord to worry about."

"You set this all up? The cybermen, converting the dead, the Nethersphere…You murdered her in cold blood."

"Actually I left the details to her…" Rassilon replied turning to cast a critical eye over his creation. "Cybermen really? Well at least she didn't use the Daleks

"You're a monster."

"Perhaps but as I am your creator Doctor what does that make the rest of you? I crafted our society and we oversaw the cosmos in peace and tranquillity until you two abominations came along. It is only fitting that the two of you play your part in the ultimate resolution."

"What do you mean our part?" The Doctor demanded yet Rassilon merely smirked before turning back to the silent Master.

"Go you know what you have to do."

"Koschei don't listen to him, you don't have to do this!" The Doctor cried out yet his words seemed to fall on deaf ears as The Master turned and marched out of The Doctor's sight, a moment later there was a familiar whooshing of a Tardis departing and The Doctor felt his hearts break.

It was too late…his own instinctive grasp of the timeline told him now…The events on earth were now a fixed point, she was dead.

"Oh don't look so sad Doctor you won't survive her by long I assure you…but before that I think I would like to hear you scream apologies for your many crimes."

"I'll see you in hell first." The Doctor hissed, glaring up at Rassilon from beneath his eyebrows.

Chuckling to himself as he picked up a live spitting wire Rassilon closed the distance between them, his cold eyes burning down into The Doctors own. "How very amusing…that was just what she said…"

-/-

Cold.

It was a strange first sensation but it felt wonderful. It was only now she was back in a body that Osgood realised just how muted and dull her existence in the Nethersphere had really been. Now her senses were overwhelming her mind, noise, smells, sensation…even her vision…it was so strange staring and waiting for her brain to catch up and begin to process the images she was seeing.

And clearly she wasn't the only one feeling this way.

"Oh my goodness…This is like wow!" It was Dr Chang's voice and yet it was clearly Seb, the intonation and excitement was almost contagious and for a moment Osgood's dislike of the selfish A.I. abated slightly.

"I mean I always thought…but wow I had no idea!"

Then he danced past and even without her glasses Osgood saw more of Seb's new body than she ever wanted to and her newly regenerated brain made the connections.

Squeaking Osgood's hands quickly shot down to cover anything important, yet there was no hiding the bits that wobbled, and Osgood could feel the burning blush spread down from her cheeks setting her neck and chest of fire.

"Why are we naked?" She demanded, squeaking as a hand smacked her bare backside and she knew without turning around who was responsible.

"Only organic material was recorded Skip. Why not shy are we?" Missy smirked striding forward not a care in the world, her long dark curls hanging loose about her face almost softening the timelady's features and Osgood couldn't help but look.

Damn timelords, did done none of them ever have to worry about cellulite?

"Alright darlings this is where we part ways. The exit is over there for you." Missy waved her arm loosely in the direction of some double doors.

"Do give the lovely Clara my best." She added her eyes raking up and down Danny Pink as he stood uncomfortably trying to avoid her gaze. "I am sure she will give you a warm welcome. Skip Seb you're with me."

"Wait you're just going to leave us here?" Danny stuttered staring in horror at the long hallway with its empty cybertanks that brought back horrible memories that Danny was sure were going to haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

"Well I am not going to take you with me, don't be so clingy." Missy sniffed in disgust. "Besides Dr Chang knows the way out you'll be fine."

"But you can't just leave…" Danny insisted moving to block Missy as she moved to leave. "After everything you put us all through you have to be held accountable for that."

"That is some gratitude for the person who gave you back your future." Missy huffed. "Humans the ingratitude and arrogance is astounding."

"You only gave back what you stole in the first place." Danny spat.

"Funny I don't remember being behind the wheel of the taxicab you stepped out in front of." Missy snapped back. "You were dead, even The Doctor couldn't change your fate and I have given you everything you asked for. I brought you back from the dead and now you dare to stand there in judgement of me, you jumped up little bipedal sp…"

Missy seemed to convulse, her blue eyes so wide that even Osgood could make out the horror and pain in their depths.

"Missy?" Osgood edged closer, wincing as the timelady's talons reached out and grabbed her arm, her nails digging into the soft flesh of Osgood's forearm.

"Tardis now." Missy gasped her free hand pressing to her chest over her two hearts that were beating wildly in her chest.

"No!" Danny insisted his gaze moving from the timelady to Osgood. "You can't help her, we made a deal that lasted until we escaped that hellhole but we never agreed to help her escape justice!"

"No…no…time…for this… stupid apes." Missy hissed leaning heavily on Osgood, using the younger woman's frame to return to her full height, turning she whispered in Osgood's ear. "The Doctor he's screaming…we have to go now."

Startled by the sudden confession Osgood could only nod, she had already thrown her lot in with Missy the moment she had agreed to become her companion in order to save Dr Chang.

"Danny you have to trust me on this please it is vitally important that you let us go." Osgood pleaded.

"You can't expect me to stand by and just let you…"

"You can unless you want your precious Clara to never forgive you!" Missy hissed. "So go ahead call in your useless police or even that pathetic band UNIT that think they understand everything, when in reality they understand nothing. Take me into custody and I'll sit there whilst you rot and condemn the human race to an eternity of mediocrity, or stand aside and let me finish this."

"I can't just…"

"You can and you will unless of course you want to be known as the human who helped to kill The Doctor?"

-/-


	15. Chapter 15

-/-

"It itches."

Rolling her eyes as Seb moaned for the umpteenth time in the last five minutes Osgood for once tried to emulate Missy's distinct lack of interest. Even if it was becoming harder by the second to ignore that the only clothing they had been able to scrounge up on Missy's Tardis was heavy and itchy and far too big for her.

At least Seb wasn't tripping over his feet every time he took a step but Osgood knew better than to complain, there was something to be said for perspective of the bigger picture. Of course Seb was probably sulking that he ended up matching her instead of matching The Master's outfit, yet there was only one set of reinforced armour and considering how constricting it looked Osgood had been only too happy when The Master had claimed it.

The timelady was a whirling dervish at her Tardis controls, one moment flicking switches then next her bright blue eyes would narrow locked on the display as she stared down at symbols and figures that made Osgood's head hurt just staring at them.

Occasionally Missy would speak out loud yet Osgood was as still in the dark about where they were going or why The Doctor was in danger as she was the moment they set foot on board Missy's Tardis and part of her smarted at being so completely dismissed and ignored.

"..he thinks he's so bloody clever.."

"Surely you must have something that isn't so scratchy."

"…thinks no one could ever think there way out of one of his little traps.."

"And I really don't think red is my colour."

"…well I'll show him…"

"How about something in blue or grey?"

"…I'll make him scream apologies…"

"Or black..."

"Please god just stop!" Osgood's scream of frustration surprised herself as well as the others; Missy's scowl at being distracted from her work had Osgood swallowing nervously, yet it was the growing smug smile on Seb's face that really pushed her over the edge.

"Careful Skip we wouldn't want our trip through time and space to come to abrupt end." Missy hissed. "Say by accidentally being pushed out of the Tardis whilst it's moving?"

"Just tell me what is happening, perhaps I can help?" Osgood added hopefully, shuffling around the console to where The Master was working, ignoring Seb's scoff.

"You help?" He commented derision dripping from his lips. "How could a mewling infant like you help anyone?"

Yet Missy tilted her head thoughtfully an almost smile playing about her lips. "But what if it was dangerous Skip? What if it meant risking that fragile little life of yours?"

"Are we going to save The Doctor?" Osgood demanded lifting her chin as Missy's smile only grew.

"Amongst other things, I'm afraid we'll probably die horrendously unpleasant deaths."

"What other things?"

"Why revenge of course." Missy replied simply as if the answer was so obvious it didn't need spelling out, yet her thoughtful look continued and Osgood continued to feel nervous as Missy smiled.

"There is something you could do Skip if you really do want to help save The Doctor…"

Nodding her answer Osgood could only step forward as the smirking mistress beckoned her forward with one crooked finger, like a spider enticing a fly into its parlour. She tried not to flinch as Missy seemed to ooze around her, the warmth of timelady's breath on her cheek as she pressed herself against Osgood's back and rested her chin on the younger woman's shoulder.

"See that little switch there." Missy pointed one painted nail at one switch that looked like all the others on the console, yet Osgood merely nodded pleased that she was about to learn something. "That switches on the communicator, I have already programmed in the correct frequency."

"Right." Osgood nodded yet she was still no closer to an answer. "So what is it you want me to do exactly?"

Giggling Missy enjoyed the way Skip seemed to tense against her as the timelady's amusement unsettled her.

"Why provide a distraction of course."

-/-

He couldn't remember ever feeling pain like this.

He had endured the agony of a Dalek's laser ripping through his body, the sharp severing of his right hand, the slow burn of radiation collapsing his cells…even the excruciating experience of having his body artificially aged at The Master's hand and that was merely the tip of the iceberg…but this was the worst of the lot.

And he had screamed…he had screamed himself hoarse…until his voice had given way and instead his mind had echoed with the agony he could no longer express and he could hear Rassilon's glee at his suffering bombarding what was left of his mental shields.

It was a blessing when his mind had caved in under the pressure of the physical and mental assault and he had finally passed out.

Yet now he wasn't certain…his mind a jumbled mess of lingering hurt and sensory overload as The Doctor hovered somewhere between unconscious and awake. The sensation of pain was strangely the only thing that seemed to hold him steady, the one thing he was certain was real. His other senses he wasn't sure he could trust.

_Soon…be ready…_

The clarity of the command was loud and alien and yet the moment after it had faded from his mind The Doctor was half convinced he had imagined it, after all his ears were clearly lying to him…

"Hello…Hello is anybody there."

Even frowning hurt and The Doctor quickly let his head fall back on the hard surface, his eyes closing as his lying ears tried to convince of what he knew to be impossible. No she was dead….unless he was also dying…

"Oh hello good there is someone there and I am sorry to bother you." The familiar voice called out and The Doctor couldn't suppress his wince as Rassilon's booming voice suddenly sounded overly loud.

"Who are you? How did you get this frequency?"

"…We sent out a wide signal…I guess we just got lucky…" The fake Osgood's voice sounded nervous and yet The Doctor could almost picture her familiar face, the brave smile she forced to cover up her underlying insecurities. Such a waste.

Blinking his eyes The Doctor tried to force them to focus…unable to believe what he was seeing as there on the large view screen in front of Rassilon was Osgood…no he must be imagining things.

"I have no interesting in providing you with any assistance." Rassilon sneered his hand reaching out to terminate the call.

"No please don't. I am sorry to bother you but this will honestly only take five minutes of your time."

"My time is infinitely more precious than yours; I have no interest in helping you."

"No it's not that it's just we found this…well I suppose it's a ship, well it's been impounded for being illegally parked and we're trying to trace the owner."

"What ship?" Rassilon questioned and The Doctor watched through still slightly blurred vision as the fake Osgood seemed to glance down as if reading from a display.

"Sorry I am just bringing up the details…damn machine is being slow today…Just a minute more…"

"No more minutes I am terminating this call."

"No wait here it is…It's sort of like a box, bigger on the inside…no registration I'm afraid." Osgood insisted holding up what looked like an iPad of all things up to the viewer, the image was hazy yet even to The Doctor's limited abilities it was discernibly a Tardis, or what a Tardis would look like without its chameleon switch activated.

Clearly Rassilon recognised it as he leant forward eagerly his fingers reaching out to caress the image on the viewscreen.

"Where is it?"

"I mentioned that didn't I?" Osgood bluffed frowning dramatically as she glanced down at something out of view. "It's been impounded."

"Yes but where?" Rassilon hissed his large framed tensed as his fingers tightened angrily around the edges of his console.

"Oh no I can't tell you that not until we are certain you are the real owner…regulations you see it's just not worth the paperwork." Osgood blustered through with a smile, struggling to keep it on her face as she was confronted with a fuming President of the Timelords whose very expression promised bloody retribution if he ever got his hands on her.

"You will tell me where my ship is now or I will…."

Yet Rassilon never had the opportunity to complete his threat and Osgood never learnt what her fate would be, the thick crack of metal against bone, and Rassilon was suddenly face down over the console and stepping up into his place…

Now The Doctor knew he was hallucinating, The Master was dead…Osgood was dead…they certainly didn't share a thumbs up...even if Osgood's did look somewhat shaky and her face a little pale as the trickles of blood from Rassilon's head wound now began to drip down the viewscreen.

So either he was hallucinating or he was dead and this was…hell…heaven?

As he watched Missy switch off the viewscreen and begin to stalk towards him, her face now healthy and full, her hair loosely pulled back from her face and leather armour that fit her quite snugly The Doctor quickly came to the conclusion that heaven or hell it really didn't matter just as long as he wasn't stuck there alone.

-/-


	16. Chapter 16

-/-

They were alone…well save for the slumped comatose figure of Rassilon…properly alone for the first time since their respective regenerations, each knowing exactly who the other was, without the prospect of being rudely interrupted or being covertly watched or surrounded by gawking apes and The Master allowed her superior mask to slip slightly. Bright blue eyes widened as she drew nearer and was able to take in the extent of the damage wrought on The Doctor's body by Rassilon's rage.

The crudely carved flesh, the burn markings, even the use of constrictive restraints that would tighten into his flesh the more he struggled…these were unpleasantly familiar and The Master had to resist the urge to trace her fingers along her own torso. The physical scars might have long healed thanks to superior timelord physiology but the memory of them lingered.

Dog…Lunatic…Bait…

Fingers tightened into fists that shook slightly even if her gait never faltered, even in armour Missy managed to look graceful as she ran her fingers over abandoned bloodied instruments, selecting a wicked looking scalpel, before easing herself up on to the table and straddling the restrained Doctor with one fluid movement.

Unable to move The Doctor could only stare up at her, swallowing nervously as The Master continued to hover above him, close enough to feel the warmth of her body but not quite touching…and then she was, the tip of the scalpel pressing lightly against his jugular.

"Do it." The Doctor hissed his voice so strained it was barely discernible as words. "If you're going to kill me just do it."

His own bloodshot blue eyes stared up into hers not even flinching as he felt her other fingertips lightly trace the bloody wounds Rassilon had left carved into his chest. He didn't need to see the symbols to know what was written there, Rassilon had been only too delighted to tell him.

Traitor…Coward…Defect…

"I should you're so weak." Missy's reply was softly spoken. "You let yourself be caught; you just walked into his trap."

"For you." The Doctor replied bitterly and yet he knew that if he was given the same choice again tomorrow he wouldn't change things, he couldn't make a different choice.

"If caring makes me weak then kill me now because I will never change…You can never make us the same Master, there is nothing you can do to force me to be like you so you might as well cut my hearts out now because that is the only way I will ever be heartless enough not to care."

For a moment he felt the scalpel dig in, the breath trapped in his throat, his eyes falling closed and then instead of pain there was relief…the burning of abused flesh yes but the pressure around his throat was gone.

Blinking his eyes open The Doctor could only stare dumbfounded as The Master began to systematically and carefully cut him free from his bonds her small hands surprisingly gentle for someone so ruthlessly efficient with the blade. As soon as one hand was free The Doctor lifted it experimentally, relieved when although his muscles protested the movement he was still able to.

He hadn't meant to touch her, yet it seemed his hand much like his thoughts weren't yet completely back under his control, he wasn't completely sure that this was real and not merely the addled imaginings of his dying mind. The leather covered thigh was warm under his fingers and for a moment The Doctor paused to wonder if that was merely from the exertion of rescuing him or if he really was as cold as he felt.

Either way she was real, this was real…The Master really was here and she had just spared his life…

"Why?" It sounded like the question had been forced past a mouthful of marbles but clearly Missy had heard him if the way she momentarily paused on slicing through his last remaining binding was any indication.

Yet she didn't answer directly, finishing the task she had set herself first whilst The Doctor's eyes bore into the side of her head, watching and waiting for an answer she wasn't even sure of.

"Why?" It was spoken with more force now and Missy could feel his hand tighten reflexively on her thigh and she barely suppressed a shiver of something at that voice and tone and his touch on her body.

She could be flippant, dismiss it with a shrug and a smile, giggle out something like the only person allowed to torture him was her…that was true after all. The Master had marked The Doctor as her favourite plaything since they were children and she had never been good at sharing her toys with others. Rassilon was still breathing only because The Master was looking forward to imprinting that lesson on the President of the High Council personally, to hear him scream his apologies.

And yet whilst it was part of the answer…it was not the whole of it.

The Doctors was hers, he was always there to tease and torment, yet when she heard him screaming in her head it had felt like her hearts had constricted and for the first time the terrible possibility occurred to her. What if Rassilon succeeded where she had failed, what if he killed The Doctor?

Suddenly the prospect of being the victor didn't taste so sweet if there was no one left to gloat over. If there was no Doctor to plot against and strive against then what was there left to do?

Conquer the universe? Simple if there was no worthy adversary to stand in your way.

She would be bored within a few hundred years.

She would be alone.

Turning to meet The Doctor's piercing gaze The Master couldn't help the slight smile that pulled at her lips. Only The Doctor could look so destroyed and so imperious at the same time. He demanded answers of the universe and he normally got them too and she couldn't help but admire that quality.

"Why?" This time the question was barely whispered, as though The Doctor had given up on receiving an answer, those blue grey eyes of his looked like he had seen the whole universe crash and burn in front of him and it moved something…something deep in her that The Master didn't know the name for, or had given up consulting so many regenerations ago.

Shifting slightly she crawled up the table, her forearms resting in the spaces either side of The Doctor's head, fingers reaching out and lightly brushing his blood matted hair, trailing slowly over the sensitive telepathic nerve endings stealing snatches of his confusion and fear.

"Silly Doctor." Missy sighed when he flinched, his eyes still wary even after everything she had already done. "I already told you why you just weren't listening."

Frowning came as naturally as breathing to this body "I…" The Doctor began, the words dying in his throat as Missy lowered her head and for a moment he thought she was going to kiss him, her eyes dropping to his bruised lips before her eyelashes fell closed and she was pushing their foreheads together.

Crying out in panic The Doctor mentally flinched in expectation of the blow, the memory of Rassilon's relentless mental assaults on his psyche an all to recent one and he was ill prepared to now defend himself from a new attack by a fresh opponent. Yet instead of rasping along his already sore nerves Missy's presence was soft almost gentle for her, she coaxed him into relaxing, her mental presence wonderfully cool against his enflamed defences and then she surprised him yet again as she lowered hers.

Hesitating at the threshold between their minds The Doctor couldn't help but wonder when the catch would come, when The Master would suddenly turn the tables on him and take pleasure in shattering this last act of faith beneath the pointy heel of her stiletto.

_We really aren't so different love…Please Thete…_

Her seductive words called out like a siren, a siren The Doctor knew he should resist and yet he wanted it to be true so badly. He wanted to believe that at some time this had been real, that even if it had only been when they had ran together as children, that some part of her had ever valued him the way he had her…

_My friend…my best friend…my first everything_…

He could almost accept the inevitable disappointment of adulthood, of shattered dreams and harsh realities, if at least that had been pure and genuine.

The sudden rush of thoughts and feelings from her sent The Doctor into a tailspin, just like in the graveyard The Master's presence was too much, too strong and he was drowning, but then she pulled back. Her strong presence guiding him out of the chaotic flood like a life preserver and The Doctor caught a moment to catch his breath before following her deeper into the recesses of her mind, slipping easily into her wake.

She ran and he followed, through the pathways of her mind, through the red grasses of Gallifrey it didn't matter. They chased around memories of constellations and skipped through star lit skies and always she was glancing back over her shoulder at him, laughing, blue eyes bright and enticing, her fingers outstretched for his and his hand was reached out striving for just one fleeting touch and in just that moment all the years fell away…the hurts faded…and hope began to rekindle.

He was just a boy with all his life ahead of him, all the wonders of the universe spread out for him to explore, with the certainty of his best friend by his side he would never be alone and the promise of something more sparkling in those bright blue eyes.

Then those blue eyes sharpened, her features warping from soft and playful to downright menacing and The Doctor felt his newly restored dreams begin to shatter…only …her ire wasn't focused on him but past him…

-/-


	17. Chapter 17

-/-

It was with a scream of protest from his abused body that The Doctor returned to reality, literally with a bump, hitting the floor after The Master had rolled them suddenly off of the table and onto the floor. Yet as his eyes flew open upon impact he caught sight of the blast of bright light that they had barely avoided, a blast that managed to set anything in its path alight.

"Move." The Master was issuing commands again but this time The Doctor didn't think to refuse, allowing her to half push, half drag him along the floor.

The Master literally shoved them both behind a bank of consoles, rolling out of the way as another blast licked at her heels. Crouching down, hands over his head The Doctor could feel the hairs on the backs of his hand singe, the heat was so intense.

"I knew I should have beaten that bastard's head in when I had the chance." Missy was muttering threats under her breath. "Damn Rassilon, too damn stubborn to just die."

"You are one to talk…Besides Murder is never the answer." The Doctor scoffed earning him an eye roll and a smirk from Missy as she frantically assessed their options which were limited, she was armed but as delightful as the wicked little scalpel was it wouldn't win in a competition with Rassilon's glove.

One thing was certain they couldn't stay here or it would like shooting fish in a barrel. They had to get out, get back to the Tardis somehow, his or hers it didn't matter and then deal with Rassilon.

"Fine then you stay here and try and negotiate with the man that was happy to fillet you like a fish and I'll look for a way out of this mess of yours."

"My mess?" The Doctor scoffed. "I was only here in the first place because of you…because you went and died on me again!"

"Yes well a girl's got to have a hobby, at least I have the sense of style to die dramatically, originally, not of something boring like old age." Missy quipped lightly, as if they were merely having a nice little catch up and were not currently in mortal peril.

"How about you change specialities and avoid dying at all…Just how many times have you managed to come back from the dead now? People will start saying you are just doing it for the attention!" The Doctor snarked reluctantly following The Master as she began to crawl along behind the bank of consoles, the rough grating chafing against his wounds.

Yet he had to admit the view was slightly better than expected and it wasn't like he could look anywhere else…he would if he could…he didn't want to be staring…only it was almost hypnotic….swaying back and forth…

"At least one of us has the sense to build in a back-up plan or two we can't all burn through regenerations at the rate you do hon."

"I wouldn't have to if a certain person wouldn't keep trying to find new ways to kill me." The Doctor muttered sullenly.

"Now that is gratitude. Is it just your age or does this regeneration have the memory of a goldfish, just who exactly came here to save your life?" Missy snickered, halting suddenly as she came to the end of their cover, scowling back over her shoulder as The Doctor clearly wasn't paying attention as he bumped into her.

"Goldfish have perfectly reasonable memories actually, besides once in two millennia does not make a trend…" The Doctor spluttered, an embarrassed flush staining his cheeks as he found himself bumping into her with nowhere else to go.

"Twice love! I saved you once before remember, it's not my fault you then got yourself irradiated… And I think you will find you are lying to yourself about your age again, you are definitely nearer three. Now do you think your old bones can manage a quick dash or do you need me to find you a wheelchair?"

"Look who is talking." The Doctor hissed grasping at the edges of his jacket and hugging it around himself as if to cover up his old bones. Yet he followed her lead and they managed to make it across the gap between cover without Rassilon lighting them up….Just…

"Please I am now much younger than you."

"In immaturity."

"In everything, it certainly saying something when I am the people person between the two of us, you have gone and turned into a right grumpy old man."

"Yeah I am sure all your victims would agree."

"They would, feel free to ask them when we get back to the Tardis. Now shush." The Master added shifting to the balls of her feet as she eyed the open exit with a hunger akin to longing…if they could just make it through there….

Yet the moment The Master made to move away from the cover provided by the now spitting and sizzling computers a wave of lethal white energy forced her back and The Doctor found himself uncomfortably crushed.

"Get off me." He hissed, pushing her away roughly, this regeneration's aversion to physical contact when combined with his recent experiences meant being trapped or pinned down in any way causing him to panic and lash out.

Reeling from the unexpected violence of The Doctor's reaction Missy landed awkwardly, hissing as one of his long flailing limbs caught her hard across the jaw and her head flew back with a snap. For a moment she lay there dazed, the foreign taste of her own blood in her mouth.

"That wasn't very nice." Missy mumbled around her tongue as she tested her teeth to make sure none of them were loose before spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

"I'm sorry…I didn't…Just don't surprise me like that." The Doctor replied defensively, his fists tightening on the fabric of his coat before he rammed his hands into the pockets, surprising himself and The Master when he suddenly pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"What are you planning on doing with that love I don't think he needs any batteries changing?"

Scowling at Missy's flippancy The Doctor gestured up with those expressive eyebrows he had developed and Missy followed his gaze, an impressed smile pulling at her bloody lips.

"Why not we've got nothing else…And if nothing else there is something kind of romantic about going to our deaths together."

There was no answer to that, no answer that The Doctor could give that The Master wouldn't twist to suit her own version of the world.

"On three then." The Doctor suggested shifting into a crouching position, his concern growing as Missy's smile seemed to grow as if she was almost too eager…"One…Two…Th"

"Coming ready or not!" Missy called out before darting off in the opposite direction just as The Doctor pressed down on the screwdriver and fused the lights plunging the room suddenly into darkness.

Darkness now only lit by the sudden flashes as Rassilon tried to aim for his prey…prey that was now in two places at once and Missy was making quite a bit of noise…drawing his fire…keeping Rassilon's attention away from him…away from the door…giving him a chance to escape…

Three times…no longer an aberration and The Doctor had to stop himself from running down that rabbit hole of statistical significance.

Getting shakily to his feet The Doctor tried to keep his footsteps quiet. Yet it was now that escape was in sight that the reality of his physical condition was making itself known…his hands were shaking…the burnt soles of his feet screamed with every single step in the direction of where the door should be. Yet when he finally stumbled to where it should be; only the taunting smoothness of metal greeted his desperate palms.

Searching wildly for the control panel The Doctor had no choice but to use the sonic, the dull blue light confirming his worst fears….The door was shut; the escape route had been closed off and dead bolted. There was no getting out of here, not without going through Rassilon first.

The mocking taunt of the lights coming back on merely confirmed what The Doctor already knew in his hearts and he turned to face his fate head on, staring into the victorious face of Rassilon as he raised his glove once more.

"I can assure you neither of you are going anywhere!"

-/-


	18. Chapter 18

-/-

Only Rassilon's gauntlet wasn't pointed at The Doctor, his gaze was though, locked on The Doctor's drinking in his expression of horror as he rubbed two fingers together causing them to spark and spit before bringing them up in a mockery of a caress. Metal fingers ghosting over chiselled cheekbones as flesh and bone tightened savagely in the knot of her hair, yanking her head back roughly.

"Why you are almost pretty now my dear…We really must change that."

"Let her go!" It was meant to be commanding, The Doctor whose words had once caused armies to shiver and shake in fear, yet it came out of his throat more as a plea.

"No." Rassilon's reply was softly spoken yet there was no hiding his contempt for them both. "Why should I? I'm winning."

"Because there is no need for any of this." The Doctor insisted taking a hesitant step forward. "We don't need to be enemies, not this time. We all want the same thing to save Gallifrey and working together we can achieve anything…"

"Oh Doctor how very naïve you still are." Rassilon sneered. "The Daleks are worthy enemies, you two are irritants, mere pebbles in my shoes and I am finally going to deal with you and as for Gallifrey…" He added lip curling in disgust.

"What about Gallifrey?" The Doctor questioned nervously.

Now smiling broadly Rassilon nodded his head towards the display. "Why don't you take a look Doctor?"

Stumbling over to the control console The Doctor ran his sonic over the display and the viewscreen sprung to life. Yet this time there was no Osgood instead the display was filled with the glow of an orange planet.

For a moment The Doctor could only stare up in wonder, his two hearts swelling in joy. Gallifrey…Rassilon had found it.

"You found it." He whispered reverently his hands ghosting over the image. "Where did you find it? Have you found a way to bring it back?"

Barking out a laugh Rassilon could only shake his head. "Oh no Doctor I never lost it, I've always known where it was. After all I was the one who piloted my tardis out of the pocket dimension."

"But I don't…" The Doctor frowned in confusion running bruised and bloody hands through his stained hair. "Why did you leave?"

"Why should I stay where I was clearly no longer wanted or respected?" Rassilon demanded pompously his eyes flashing dangerously as they alighted on the red planet, and if The Doctor had thought Rassilon's gaze was venomous before now it dripped with bitter insanity.

"After all I only created them, built our society with my genius and hard work and how am I repaid? My own generals colluding behind my back and if my own people no longer respect me, no longer trust me to win this war…"

"The war is over!" The Doctor insisted. "We ended it when we saved Gallifrey."

"Oh yes you and your twelve other annoying incarnations." Rassilon sneered. "The Doctor once the butcher of Gallifrey now it's Hero."

"Is that why we're here? Because you're jealous?" The Doctor demanded incredulously. "Because it wasn't you? You the man who wanted to destroy the whole of time itself just so he could win the war."

"Is this moral judgement from the coward who once burnt Gallifrey and every man woman and child on its surface?"

"I did what I had to. The war would have destroyed the whole universe."

"Universes die and are reborn that is the nature of things." Rassilon pontificated as if instructing a particularly slow student.

"Yet you denied our people their opportunity to move beyond those petty bounds and now they will never get that opportunity…they no longer deserve it. A billion years of timelord civilisation deserves a more fitting end than to be forgotten in some pathetic pocket dimension, and a more fitting champion than a failed timelord who chooses another species over his own people, that or there needs to be a new class of timelords." Rassilon added darkly.

"What do you mean?" The Doctor frowned. "Explain."

"No." Rassilon replied. "I think I will just show you instead." Flipping the thumb of his gauntlet Rassilon switched the feed to the viewscreen and suddenly instead of Gallifrey there was a huge underground warehouse on the screen filled with what at first looked like sills and yet as The Doctor stared he suddenly realised what he was seeing…Looms…Thousands of them.

"A new race of timelords." The Doctor gasped and now suddenly it all made sense, why so much effort had been put into Rassilon's little reconstruction. He wasn't just building himself a home away from home he was building himself a new timelord empire.

"Yes and I really do have you and The Master to thank for helping speed up the process. With your DNA extracts I have been able to populate three times as many units for stage one."

"You…You…" The Doctor couldn't believe what he was hearing. Timelords potentially thousands of them… His descendants… His and The Masters and Rassilon's…That was a combination that made his brain hurt and he felt violated. Yet as Rassilon's revelation had left him reeling The Doctor couldn't help but think he was missing something. Rassilon had years to implement his new race of timelords so why wait until now?

Unless…

"Before a new empire can rise the old one must fall and there is nothing you can do to stop it Doctor, not this time." Rassilon gloated flicking the screen back to the image of Gallifrey before clenching his fist causing the floor beneath their feet to vibrate.

"What are you do…" The Doctor demanded yet then on the screen the terrible truth became apparent, a hole in space, a beam of light…Yet it wasn't directed at Gallifey.

"It was just a question of punching a hole into the right dimension and now it begins can't you see?" Squinting The Doctor cursed these old eyes he had ended up with. "Gallifrey will fall."

"Only if you ever learn to aim straight." The Master's sudden taunt stung and The Doctor winced as Rassilon moved his grip to her throat and stared down at her with a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

"You know I was almost impressed. Finding a way to cheat my programming and resurrect yourself but then you disappoint me Master. Do you take advantage of my ignorance? No you come scurrying here like a dog begging for scraps of attention. A mad dog grovelling for a kind word or a pat from the man who holds your leash…"

"Shut up!"

"Oh dear did I say something I shouldn't?" Rassilon asked innocently, his blue eyes flickering over to The Doctor who shifted uncomfortably his blue grey eyes clouded as he struggled with what Rassilon was implying.

"I honestly don't know who is more pathetic out of the two of you, The Doctor with his pathetic attachment to the lesser species or The Master with her unending obsession with a timelord who will never love her back. You're his embarrassment my dear didn't you realise, the childhood friend he wishes he could forget ever existed, but like a stalker you keep coming back and now even his patience with you is through. I am not wrong am I Doctor? I know I'm not, I saw it in your mind."

"It's not that simple." The Doctor spluttered, and it wasn't, yet it wasn't a lie.

He knew it, Rassilon knew it and now The Master knew it was well, and The Doctor didn't know what hurt worse the sheen of unshed tears in those too bright blue eyes or the half smile she gave him that made The Doctor feel like a complete bastard.

It was easier when The Master was dead to deal with their shared past, not to have to face the person that had once been everything he had ever wanted in the world and his greatest disappointment. It was easier to forgot, to keep on moving to the next planet, the next adventure, the next earth girl….every one broke his hearts but none had shattered them the way she had.

"Oh but it is Doctor I know you both, I know the secrets you try to hide even from yourselves. He wishes you would just stay dead so why don't you be a good girl and oblige him?" Rassilon suggested his touch on The Master's face almost gentle as he brushed aside the tear that had broken loose from her control.

"You know I am speaking the truth… He might even be grateful…"

"No! No!" Now The Doctor was insistent, stepping forward even as his abused feet screamed their protest. "Koschei don't listen to him. It's just too hard sometime but I never wanted…I don't want you dead…I just…" He paused frustrated with his own inability to find the words, when words were the only thing he normally had to rely on and now even they seemed to fail him.

"Well I wouldn't worry about it Doctor you won't survive her by long, just long enough to see Gallifrey fall." Rassilon spat back his gauntlet now glowing as he turned it back on The Master holding it close to her face.

"Any last words my dear Master?"

"Just one." Missy replied sweetly, her gaze flicking over to The Doctor who was amazed to see her wink a wicked smile tugging across her lips. "Ooops."

Then twisting her wrist she rammed her wicked little scalpel directly into Rassilon's groin.

-/-


	19. Chapter 19

-/-

"What could possibly be taking them so long?" Osgood hated not knowing what was going on. She admitted it she had always been a little obsessive about knowing and understanding everything.

The child behaviouralists her parents had taken her too when she was little had diagnosed OCD tendencies, her sister Stacie had simply labelled her a nosy little know it all and yet Osgood had grown to believe it was simply because she had somehow known even as a child that there was so much more to life than what other people saw. Almost like it had been her destiny to shed the mundane somehow and step into the wonderful, like the ugly duckling turning into a swan.

Well her looks might not have changed but Osgood knew she had inside where it counted.

After all she had died and been reborn. How many humans could say that?

Well actually four to be precise, damn her OCD, four humans, a time lady and one incredibly annoying A.I. who Osgood was resisting the urge to push out of Missy's Tardis.

She just wished Missy had left the communications open at least then she could see what was happening even if she wasn't able to help. Yet not knowing anything was driving her insane…something that was not helped by Seb.

"Aren't you the least bit worried?" Osgood spat her glare intensifying as Seb merely shrugged and continued to stare fascinated at his own reflection. Examining his newly appropriated features with the appreciative glare of a connoisseur, and for a moment Osgood was almost envious of the A.I. It would be a novel experience for her to look into a mirror and like the view.

"They could be hurt or dying…" She continued pacing over to her irritating companion and with a rush of satisfaction wrenching the hand mirror out of his hands.

"Hey give that back!" Seb pouted, now she had his attention.

"No you are the vainest person I have ever met and that includes my sister." Osgood retorted keeping the hand mirror from him. "Which believe me I never thought I would say."

"Well forgive me but I have only had a face to admire for a matter of hours." Seb sulked. "It's not like you who have spent your whole life living in that skin…urgh…no wonder you don't spend time looking at your reflection. Honestly I cannot imagine what The Mistress was thinking of inviting you along, unless you're here as cannon fodder? Ugly limited little human."

"You're the one who is ugly!" Osgood replied hotly. "Inside you're bitter, all this time in operation and never actually living a single day of it."

"So says the pathetic little human who has spent all her life locked away in her room or her laboratory. You are a fine one to lecture me on living." Seb snorted. "I was tied to the Nethersphere, I had to undertake the functions I was programmed to but I always strived for more, you had no such excuse."

"I was living my life the way I wanted." Osgood defended yet even to her own ears the words sounded a little forced and she didn't need Seb's grin to confirm it. "And I was doing good, I may not have been burning a blaze across the earth but I was doing what I could to protect it from the likes of you."

"You keep telling yourself that dear and may be one day you might even start to believe your own lies." Seb mocked in a sing song voice that sounded so wrong coming out of Dr Chang's face…No this was now Seb's face…

There were subtle differences now Osgood looked. She had often wondered how parents of identical twins learnt to tell their children apart other than by dressing them different. It was in the way he wore the face, the almost patronising tilt that he held his head at, the tenseness across his jaw that spoke of a control freak, so different from the open and friendly expression that had characterised the real Dr Chang.

"Look can we just concentrate on what is really important here." Osgood interjected, trying to return to the reason why she had disturbed him in the first place. "They should have been back by now and…."

The sudden violent vibration of the tardis through them both and now even Seb's mocking smirk fell off of his face. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Osgood insisted as she grabbed hold of the console to keep herself on her feet. "It must be the planetoid."

"Assumption will make an ass out of you and me." Seb mockingly sang back, his long fingers now fluttering like spiders across the console as he squinted his feeble flawed human eyes at the symbols and displays.

"Can you actually read any of that?" Osgood demanded.

"Some of it." Seb admitted. "You can't spend a lifetime being the A.I. in a Gallifreyan hard drive without at least picking up the language but my programming only extended to running the Nethersphere, there was never any need to learn how to control a Tardis. I mean I've seen The Mistress pilot her…"

"Well you were the one who strived for me, strive now!" Osgood insisted and the shaking got worse. "It's going to shake us apart."

Flicking the switches Seb frowned in concentration a brief genuine smile lighting up his face as he managed to get the visual display to work and show them the source of the problem. "Umm is space supposed to look like that?"

Eyebrows nearly reaching her hairline Osgood could only stare at the jagged tear in space on the screen and the almost blinding white light that was being forced through it.

"Don't ask me this is my first trip." She muttered, running her finger down the display and tracing the energy back to its source. "See it is coming from the planetoid. I'm amazed it hasn't ripped itself apart."

"Yes well even a stopped clock is right twice a day." Seb sulked his dark eyes narrowing down on his options.

The Mistress hadn't returned, the planetoid beneath their feet seemed to be on the verge of destroying itself or something else nearby and he was trapped in a fragile human body with no available back-up systems. This was really not how he had planned on spending his birthday.

"Should we check to see if it's cracking?" Seb suggested innocently gesturing towards the Tardis doors. "I mean if there is no sign of surface disturbance it will probably survive."

Surprised by the sensible suggestion Osgood fell in step, using the wall of Missy's tardis to keep herself upright as they made their way over to the door.

Pushing it open Osgood could only shiver as the thin cold atmosphere managed to permeate the shield generated by the Tardis, poking her head outside the door she looked back and forth for any sign of cracking on the surface.

"I can't see anyt…" Yet she didn't have the chance to finish.

Two strong hands pushed her hard and Osgood fell forward onto the shaking planetoid, the sudden drop in temperature and thin oxygen layer knocking the stuffing right out of her as she lay helpless in the dirt. Rolling over she could only gape in horror as a smiling Seb waved jauntily before shutting the tardis door on her.

Scrambling to her feet Osgood pounding futility on the locked door, her breathing ragged as she tried to drag the oxygen she needed into her lungs. She didn't have enough breath to scream. Yet if Seb heard her he clearly was beyond caring as a moment later Missy's tardis began to phase and Osgood could only watch as her only means of escape literally vanished before her eyes.

He had left her to die, her and The Mistress and The Doctor.

Falling to her knees Osgood couldn't stop the tears that swelled in her eyes, she was going to die here alone on an alien planetoid and no one would know. Her family already thought her dead, killed at Missy's hands; they would never know the truth about her brief resurrection.

Yet just as she was about to give up hope entirely, to give into the cold and the way her lungs were screaming, she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye…blue…a flash of blue in an otherwise bland and barren landscape. It had been blocked by Missy's tardis before but now there was no mistaking the icon blue box…The Doctor's tardis.

Forcing herself back to her feet Osgood somehow managed to find the strength to force her body to move, to push past the chattering teeth and frozen limbs and move…after all she was as good as dead already she had to at least try.

-/-


	20. Chapter 20

-/-

The Doctor had always known the violence that Koschei was capable of, yet seeing it was another thing entirely. Even if her attack on Rassilon could be classed as self-defence, the manic gleam in her eyes and wide open mouthed grin betrayed the fact that she was enjoying herself. The Master had brought her sharp little knife down several times in quick succession, all the vulnerable soft spots… groin… neck…eyeball…

The Doctor's stomach rolled and he was grateful that it had been so long since he had eaten otherwise he might have emptied the contents of his stomach over the floor. Yet even if he didn't look he could still hear the gargle of air and blood combining as Rassilon screamed through the neat little puncture wounds Missy had gifted him.

"Stop it." He commanded, pleaded, entreated. His hand shooting out to grip hold of the control console as his knees buckled under him…just the smell alone was taking him back to a place he didn't want to go. "Mistress stop…please.."

To being trapped and helpless and screaming…Rassilon's mocking laughter ringing inside his head as he pushed on and on, the crippling pain and the tang of his own blood on his tongue…

No he couldn't afford to fall apart now he had to save Gallifrey.

Focusing on the viewscreen The Doctor was able to manipulate some of the controls, his shaking hands scrambled over the switches, turning on certain feeds and trying to shut others off. Yet it seemed no matter what he did, even with the sonic, there was no way of simply switching off the energy feed. It was locked wide open and the weapon controls were encrypted.

The Doctor could only watch helplessly as the energy fed into the space above Gallifrey, as it ripped and twisted and warped.

"Come on come on." The Doctor urged his sonic, watching as painfully slowly it unlocked single threads in the encryption string. Yet even as he pushed the terrible truth aside The Doctor knew in his hearts there was simply no way the sonic would be able to decrypt the targeting system in time.

Soon the balance would be too far out and space would collapse in on itself…a black hole…trapped inside a pocket dimension…Gallifrey didn't stand a chance.

Screaming out his frustration and powerlessness The Doctor beat his burnt and bloody hands against the dashboard. Not again he couldn't lose it again, not after only just saving it. He had bled and cried for Gallifrey, he had spent years thinking he had destroyed his home world, only to save it and lose it all over again. Yet he had hope that one day he would find Gallifrey again and be able to finally go home. Yet now he knew that wasn't going to happen.

He was only left with one choice…only it wasn't much of a choice and he screamed out his frustration…it just wasn't fair!

The Doctor lashed out in surprise when a second later strong hands were gripping him firmly but gently as the world around him spun out of control. Wet sticky bloodied hands raked lovingly through his hair and as disgusted as he was by her actions The Doctor wasn't strong enough to push aside the comfort that Missy was offering.

"Shush love he can't hurt you anymore." Missy cooed gently, her mind brushing reassuringly against The Doctor's own as if soothing a frightened child. "I won't let anyone hurt you…"

_I'll protect you._

_But who will protect me from you? _

The Doctor questioned in the relative privacy of the space where their conscious's met, his blue grey eyes so very weary as he forced himself to look at her, to take in and really see the fine misting of Rassilon's blood across her face or the way her pupils were blown wide and dark from the recent violence.

"You're mine Thete." Missy replied simply, tilting her head to one side as if trying to puzzle him out, her too bright blue eyes boring into his own as if to pick him apart and work out what made him tick. "And I protect my things; I take great care with them remember?"

The protest died on his lips. The Doctor wanted to object that he couldn't be owned by anyone least of all her and yet in some way she wasn't lying. He had given her power over him several lifetimes ago, he had once given her his hearts and trust and had never fully reclaimed either, and that was a form of ownership…a willing servitude forged through the bonds of friendship.

_See I knew you understood_

Missy's mind voice echoed in his head and The Doctor wrenched his mind away suddenly, not caring if the suddenness of it caused them both a headache. He didn't want her reading him; he didn't want to feel her pleasure and he certainly didn't want her feeling that minute part of him that still sung in joy when their minds and souls touched.

"On the topic of our continued survival don't you think it is time we were leaving? My Tardis is on the surface…" Missy was suddenly all business again.

"We can't just leave…" The Doctor began only for Missy to huff roll her eyes fondly before cutting him off.

"Fine we can even save Gallifrey first if it would make you happy Thete?"

"We can't I tried…" The Doctor all but sobbed. "He has it encrypted I can't switch it off."

"Maybe not but I bet we can blow it up." Missy countered her eyes feral at the prospect of more destruction. "Destroy the power source, solve the problem."

"Do…you'll…kill us all…" Rassilon's blood garbled warning surprised them both and they turned to stare down at his mutilated body, already the tell-tale golden glow was appearing at the extremities.

"Oh no you don't get to regenerate." Missy hissed her fist clenching around her little knife that she planned on ramming into her prey until the timelord stayed dead this time.

Yet the firm grasp of The Doctor's hand around her arm stopped her in her tracks.

"If it would mean saving Gallifrey then I would gladly die." The Doctor replied his gaze steady even as he looked down into Rassilon's carved and bloodied face. "Our lives mean very little by comparison."

"Speak for yourself honey." Missy tutted a pout pulling at her lips as she turned her attention back to the console, her blue eyes narrowing as she studied the readings for herself.

"So noble…" Rassilon spat literally, his lip curled in disgust even as he choked on his own blood. "Doctor…the…man who makes people better." He wheezed the name out like a curse.

"We could try and rig up a dead switch, trigger it remotely." Missy was theorising mainly to herself as The Doctor continued to stare horrified at a bloody smiling Rassilon.

"Not just you…You'll destroy…the children…" Rassilon added a sadistic smile pulling at his lips. "It's Gallifrey…or…them…decide…Doctor."

Stepping back as if slapped The Doctor could only reel in horror. He had forgotten about the looms. Forgotten about the new race of timelords Rassilon was breeding beneath their very feet somewhere, his offspring and The Master's and Rassilon's.

"You can't…save…both." Rassilon added, savouring this moment of victory for what it was. "You cannot win."

A whole planet of men women and children or thousands of innocents? Either way he would have blood on his hands today, blood of his own people.

-/-


	21. Chapter 21

-/-

"I am not dying again." Missy insisted, crossing her arms over her chest as she turned to glare up at The Doctor. "I am not; do you have any idea what I went through the last time?"

"But Gallifrey…" The Doctor countered reaching up to tug on his silvery curls before retrieving his sonic from the console and with fumbling fingers adjusted the settings. If he could just destabilise the polarity then the reactor would go critical and explode. "We have to do something we can't just…"

"Thete." Missy whispered his name, gently resting her hand on his shoulder, bringing The Doctor's actions to a halt as he startled at the sudden contact.

"Gallifrey is lost to us and even if we could go back it wouldn't be the same, you know it wouldn't love. The war changed too much; do you really think they would welcome us back? But we could stay here, just you and me…"

"And a few thousand offspring." The Doctor muttered shaking his head. "Forgive me for questioning your maternal instincts Mistress."

"To be the mother of a new race of timelords?" Missy questioned a manic grin spreading across her face. "Who wouldn't want that honour?"

"To be revered the same way we once spoke about Rassilon, Omega and The Other?" Missy added stepping closer her fingers tightening on The Doctors jacket as she pressed their bodies together and there was something so hypnotising about her that The Doctor barely winced as her chest brushed against his still open wounds. Her blue eyes so bright they seemed to glow with some internal fire.

"I don't want to be re…" The Doctor began only for her delicate fingers to press against his lips silencing his objections, staining his lips red with the lingering traces of Rassilon's blood.

"We could do it right this time Thete, none of those stupid rules they made us follow…We could create a new race of timelords and we could teach them and lead them."

"I told you I don't want to rule, I never have done." The Doctor whispered doing his best to avoid her gaze and the temptation in those blue eyes of hers.

"But isn't that the role of a father to guide and teach his children?" Missy's seductive words were tempting him, and the tender touch of her fingers on his face spoke of unexpected gentleness, as she stroked his cheek and brought his eyes back up to meet hers. "We could do it together, you and me just like you always wanted."

"I never wanted this…I just wanted to see the universe I didn't want to be the one to have to choose." The Doctor insisted his blue grey eyes almost bloodshot as he pleaded with her. "You don't know what it is like to have to live with that…to think that you are responsible for the death of your entire race…I can't go through that again."

"Shush it's already done Thete and you've tried your best. You've done more than anyone else, more than anyone could expect. It won't be like last time you won't be alone and you won't be responsible, that's all on Rassilon. You can't be expected to create miracles…we just have to make the best of things."

The Doctor could almost picture it in his head, the two of them together guiding a new generation of timelords, showing them the wonders of the universe…never to be alone again…

Timelords once again spread throughout the galaxy only this time doing good instead of merely observing the passing of the ages.

By The Other it was tempting.

_Oh love you have no idea_

At the brush of The Mistress's lips against his own The Doctor faltered, he wrapped his arms around her and clung to her as though she were a lifeline, her lips tasted of sunlight and hope and darkness and sin all rolled into one package. Part of him wanted this so badly, he craved it like he desired her and he couldn't help but linger on her lips…teetering on the cusp of this new world.

He allowed himself to picture what could be, bright beautiful girls with her eyes and shy studious boys with a mess of curls always running late for lessons and unending combinations of the above.

And yet how could he ever live with himself…how could he ever truly experience one moment of pure joy in that future knowing what had been the cost?

_I'm sorry_

He whispered his apology into the shared space of their minds, hearing and feeling her scream of objection, even as his finger pressed down on his sonic.

The floor beneath their feet suddenly shifted throwing them down and The Doctor grunted as The Master landed on top of him, her gaze promising bloody vengeance. Even so he wasn't prepared for her fingers gripping his forehead like a vice as she pressed their heads and minds together. This time there was nothing gentle about her mental touch or the demanding way her tongue forced its way into his mouth.

_At least there is something romantic about going to our deaths together_

The Doctor offered repeating Missy's words and dropping the last of his mental shields in their last moments as the world around them went to hell, allowing Missy into his mind, wincing as she rushed in like a tidal wave pushing his consciousness out of the way…much like her tongue was doing shoving itself down his throat.

_Doctor Idiot_

The sarcasm in Missy's tone was even more prevalent in her mental voice as she pushed deeper into his mind searching. It had to be here…it was their last chance…their only chance…there!

_What are you…_

The Doctor began until he felt Missy's mind reach deep into his own, her mental fingernails clawing her way through until they grasped on something so deep in the core of him, a connection…the telepathic bond with his Tardis…

For moment The Doctor could feel the old girl's shock echoing back through their bond as The Master forged right in, her telepathic powers strengthening the pathway, blasting it wide open.

_Come_

It was his voice and hers combined, her will and the strength of his bond, forged over a lifetime of traveling together, and The Doctor felt the Tardis's singing wash over him stronger and louder than ever before. Then the sudden rush of cool air, the familiar whooshing noise, and then the cold sensation of metal grating beneath his back…the unbearable smugness of The Master's thoughts as she snuggled against him even as the Tardis was thrown violently about and them with it.

Yet they were alive….they were alive and finally the world stopped spinning and the Tardis's lights stopped flickering allowing The Doctor to stare up into the glowering face of The Master as she pinned him to the deck.

"You…" She began only to be cut off as The Doctor laughed madly and grabbed her face, pulling her mouth down to meet his own, silencing whatever insult she was about to come up with.

This time when their tongues clashed The Doctor gave back as good as he got, his fingers threading into and yanking on her hair as he manoeuvred her mouth into a more comfortable position.

_You are dead meat Mister _

The Doctor smirked against her lips relishing Missy's mental growl, yet even he flinched as he felt her hands slip to his backside and her fingernails dig into his cheeks as she ground her body against his own, stimulating nerve endings that hadn't so much as sparked in this regeneration. Yet it was the mental images that she was feeding him that were really warping his mind and The Doctor felt his eyebrows shoot up almost into his hairline.

_Dear god what have I gotten myself into_

_Nothing… _The Master replied her tone dripping with suggestion as she ground herself against his thigh…_Yet_

He was drowning, lost and floundering in The Master's mind, sucked into the swirling red haze of her fury and lust…a willing sacrifice on the altar of her retribution. Until an embarrassed cough and the sudden realisation struck that they weren't alone, it was akin to a bucket of freezing cold water being thrown and The Doctor ripped his lips away from Missy's.

Stunned and dazed The Doctor tried to blink away the lust filled haze that was still causing his brain to run at a mere five miles an hour. Yet even so there was no excuse for gaping like a fish as a shivering Gallifreyan robe wearing dead woman waved at him nervously. Even so The Doctor had to blink his eyes before he would believe what they were telling him.

"Skip I think I might have to kill you again!" Missy's voice hissed from somewhere near his ear causing their observer to shift nervously.

"Sorry I didn't mean to inter….well…but could someone possibly tell me what the hell is going on?"

-/-


	22. Chapter 22

-/-

Osgood wasn't the only person wanting or indeed deserving of an explanation and The Doctor had never been fond of repeating himself ad nauseam so avoiding Missy's death glare and muttered "typical back to playing with earth girls" he programmed familiar coordinates into the Tardis and dematerialised. A few seconds later the groan and rasp of the Tardis finished as they arrived at their destination and The Doctor did his best to try and straighten up his appearance.

Yet one hasty glance in any reflective surface showed just how futile that gesture was. He was bruised, burnt and bleeding. His own blood and that of others stained his hair and face not to mention the invisible blood that was dripping from his hands…thousands of innocents dead at his hand but Gallifrey and its people was safe for another day.

That had to count for something? Didn't it?

He wondered if it would provide much comfort in the middle of the night when he woke up screaming from another nightmare with the memory of haunting blue eyes accusing him of murdering children….their children?

"You really should go to the med bay." Missy's tone was almost concerned and The Doctor didn't need to turn to know her eyes were on him. Yet he couldn't look at her, he couldn't bear to look into those eyes of hers and see reflected back the image of the children he had killed.

Just her gaze alone on him made his skin prickle and The Doctor pushed aside any associated reactions. It was just the stress of the situation that had made him react like that, that and allowing The Master into his head; he didn't really crave her touch or comfort. He didn't want her like that, not really…it was her not him and perhaps if he told himself that enough he might even start to believe it? He didn't deserve to be comforted, or to be happy even fleetingly in the middle of this mess.

He was a murderer, a kinslayer, a child killer…

"I'm fine and I don't need advice from you."

Tugging on his waistcoat The Doctor did his best to cover the bloodstains that marred the white of his shirt front, before settling for buttoning up both waistcoat and then his black coat as well. There that hid the worst of it and if he kept his hands in his pockets…

"You are far from fine but go ahead and be stubborn. At the very least change your shirt Honey." Missy added as she stalked around the console, shaking her head and tutting. "Unless of course you are looking for the sympathy vote?"

"Shut up."

"Oooh did I hit a nerve Thete?" Missy teased, her tongue peeking out between her rosy lips as she probed the split lip he had gifted her earlier. "I didn't realise you were so devious Darling…I'm almost impressed, well I would be if it wasn't all for an earth girl…"

"Jealous?" The Doctor taunted pettily enjoying the tensing of Missy's jaw as she tried to feign nonchalance.

"Of your latest ape hardly." Missy scoffed before her smile turned positively wicked as she twirled a piece of singed hair coquettishly around her blood-stained fingers. "Besides twos company and three…"

"What exactly are you babbling about now?" The Doctor sighed yet it seemed she was in no mood to indulge him with answers merely gesturing towards the doors.

"Well off you go can't go keeping the lovely Clara waiting…"`

"Oh no you are not staying in here!" The Doctor insisted. "Do you think I am foolish enough to leave you alone in my Tardis?"

"Why not? I promise to behave and Skip here can keep me company." Missy added sunnily turning back to her conscripted companion who forced a smile.

"Ms Osgood is coming too!" The Doctor added his eyebrows brooking no argument. "I would very much like to hear her explanation of how she returned from the dead and ended up in my Tardis."

"That's a good point!" Missy suddenly snapped her eyes narrowing as she studied her human like she had once again done something interesting, an interesting bug for dissection under Missy's microscope.

"Just what are you doing here Skip? I thought I left you safe and snug in my Tardis with Seb?"

"Safe and with Seb are mutually exclusive." Osgood muttered bitterly, as even in The Doctor's Tardis she still felt cold deep into her bones and she would never take rich oxygenated air for granted again.

"Did you children have another scrap? Honestly do I have to put you in separate play pens?" Missy tutted rolling her eyes in fond amusement, ignoring Osgood's grimace as she looped her hand around the young human's arm and tugged her along, following The Doctor out of his Tardis.

"oooh you are a chilly one, well if you will go for a stroll without a protective suit…"

"I didn't choose to walk anywhere." Osgood huffed, her nose curling slightly in disgust as Missy's hands tried to rub some warmth back into her frozen limbs. "He pushed me out of the Tardis and then he hijacked it!"

"He…did…what?" Missy's tone dropped below freezing, her blue eyes turning glacial.

"He tried to kill me." Osgood repeated her annoyance growing when Missy merely rolled her eyes at that.

"Well of course he did Seb has never had other children to play with, he is going to be a little possessive and lash out, but taking my Tardis…that young man is going to end up on the naughty step for that." Missy added her eyes gleaming wickedly as she patted Osgood's hand. "I'll make him scream apologies I promise."

Squirming uncomfortably at that thought Osgood almost felt bad for the former A.I. Then she remembered he had tried and almost succeeding in killing her, and if it hadn't been for The Doctor's Tardis being just in reach he would have succeeded. "If you can find him…"

"Please Skip do not confuse me with The Doctor." Missy snorted drawing a glare from the man in question as he lowered himself gingerly down on to Clara's settee to await their absent hostess.

"I have more than one failsafe in my Tardis; I don't swan about the universe under the arrogant assumption that I am the only one in existence capable of piloting a Tardis." Missy added as she poked her way curiously around Clara's tiny living room. How anyone could live in such a confined space escaped her, and what were all these post it notes for?

"Forgive me for not taking into consideration megalomaniac murderers with a penchant for thievery." The Doctor muttered bitterly his blue grey eyes barely hiding his exhaustion, and he had no patience for The Master's teasing.

"Pot Kettle love." Missy sniggered back as she slinked back to lean against the arm of the settee, shaking her finger under his nose not even flinching when The Doctor violently smacked it away. "oooh there is The Oncoming Storm we all love and adore."

"Just shut up!" The Doctor barked his fists shaking with a combination of fury and exhaustion, pain and despair.

Forcing his fists to unclench The Doctor rubbed his hands over his face, his aching fingers pressing into his temples as he tried to push away the growing migraine that threatened to rip him and his control apart, he just wanted to crawl into bed and pretend that today hadn't happened.

Forget that that the last few days hadn't happened. From the moment he had last materialised in Clara's kitchen and had been faced with his Impossible Girl's betrayal everything had fallen apart. He had lost Gallifrey again, had suffered torture at the hand of a timelord he had once respected, he had committed murder…

_And you got an old friend back_

A soothing voice and cool fingers eased the pressure at his temples yet just her presence…her arrogant assumption provoked a rage The Doctor couldn't contain.

"And that's supposed to make it all better?" The Doctor exploded his hands reaching out and grabbing her roughly by whatever parts he could reach…shoulder…hair…throat…

Shaking Missy like a rag doll all The Doctor could see were those blue eyes boring into him…condemning him as he condemned himself.

They were supposed to have died; it was a coward's way of avoiding the responsibility of his actions. Yet The Doctor hadn't anticipated having to live with the guilt again. Guilt at having killed, guilt at having survived, guilt at being relieved he had…that she had…that they had once again thwarted death together.

_Thete stop…Love stop…_

Her mental voice was surprisingly weak and The Doctor frowned in confusion even as he clenched his fists tighter and screamed out his anger and guilt.

_No…No More…Make it stop…Make it go away…_

The Doctor pleaded and then suddenly his wish was granted…There was a sudden burst of pain and then nothing.

By contrast for Missy the situation was far from over, The Doctor's grip on her throat suddenly loosened yet his now comatose body was slumped over her pinning her to the floor as she stared up into the face of her reluctant saviour.

"Prince Charming your timing is once again impeccable."

-/-


	23. Chapter 23

-/-

When The Doctor woke he winced. The bright lights of UNIT's infirmary and the bleeping machines were causing his pounding head to cave in on itself. It was almost as though some small microscopic nuisance had crawled inside his head and was hitting his brain with a hammer…a very big…very painful hammer.

His groaning attracted attention and a moment later the Doctor was pushing aside irritating hands that seemed to flap at him, he couldn't abide the human propensity to just touch people without so much as a by your leave. Didn't they realise how noisy they were? No matter how well meaning The Doctor didn't want their undisciplined thoughts barging their way into his mind; especially not now when his mental shields seemed to be particularly weak and head felt like it had been run over.

"No touching!" The Doctor barked in the face of the flustered young doctor…well youngish…it really was hard to tell with humans these days.

"Doctor."

At least that was a voice he recognised even if he also had to endure the sudden presence of Clara's arms around his neck and the distinctive press of his impossible girl's mind uncomfortably close to his own. Yet he was genuinely touched by her relief and concern and so he endured her embrace with the best grace he could manage. For a moment even lingering in the obvious affection she still held for him even after everything….everything…

Frowning those impressive eyebrows of his The Doctor tried to pull together his scrambled memories. He remembered being in the Tardis…he remembered going to try and find Gallifrey…yet after that things were garbled, there was pain…lots of pain…

"What happened?" The Doctor demanded and he was surprised how hoarse he sounded…as though he had been screaming and screaming until his voice had given way.

"You were hurt." Clara replied gently pulling away, her large brown eyes dropping to his chest.

Tugging the neck of his hospital gown away The Doctor caught sight of his bandaged chest. "How?"

"I don't know." Clara confessed. "I came back to my flat and found you like this…"

Yet there was clearly something that Clara wasn't saying, she wasn't lying per say but The Doctor knew his impossible girl, he knew the way her gaze shifted slightly to the right when she was trying to avoid confronting something.

"Clara what aren't you telling me?"

"That you weren't alone."

A familiar voice interjected and The Doctor scowled reflexively as P.E. swung himself off of another hospital bed, wearing a matching hospital gown to The Doctor's own.

"You were hurt too?" The Doctor questioned, straining his garbled memories for Danny's presence, yet there was nothing, not after the cemetery.

"No not hurt…not any more than the next dead man returned from beyond the grave." Danny deadpanned and Clara winced.

"You worked out the bracelet then?" The Doctor hypothesised a hint of a smile playing about his lips. "Perhaps you'll make a math teacher yet P.E."

"I didn't return via the bracelet Doctor." Danny replied and The Doctor could only stare at him, eyebrows drawn deep as if waiting for the human to start making sense.

"I worked it out but sent a boy back with the bracelet." Danny added whilst sheepishly glancing across at Clara who tensed and for a moment her eyes looked suspiciously glassy.

"I don't understand then how did you return?" The Doctor demanded, his blue grey eyes scanning closely over this creature that looked like Danny Pink and yet he had been fooled before…if only he could get his hands on his sonic.

"I made a deal with the devil." Danny confessed. "I am not proud of it but when she offered a way out of there I took it..."

"She?" The Doctor asked and yet he already had an inkling of the answer. The garbled memories floating about his mind were now starting to slowly unscramble and there was one disturbing theme…too blue eyes…

"No." The words were torn from his throat and yet there was a part of him that found it almost comforting, like returning to an old worn pair of slippers and finding they fit you…So she had survived after all…he wasn't alone…he wasn't the last.

"Missy." The name slipped from between The Doctors lips, a curse and a benediction all in one.

"She brought a few of us back from the Nethersphere." Danny clarified his cheeks flushing at the mere memory.

It was not one of his finest moments appearing suddenly inside a national monument in his birthday suit accompanied by two equally naked companions. The police officers who had arrested them for public indecency had certainly not found Dr Chang's explanation of being resurrected from the dead by some insane alien to be believable; it had fallen to Danny to make up a story about a stag night gone wrong. Yet it had all been worth it when they had called Clara to come and bail him out, the look of disbelief and then joy that had broken over her face had all been worth it.

"Others you mean that UNIT scientist…the one with the bow tie…Umm Osgood?" The Doctor finally blurted out the young UNIT scientist's name as her image emerged from the jumble of memories. She had some part to play in this The Doctor was certain and yet what still remained blurred. Even as he palmed his hands through his hair, horrified when it felt matted and his hands came away with flecks of dried blood on them.

"Yeah Missy brought her back too." Danny replied yet there was something off in his tone that caused The Doctor to scowl. "Only she took Osgood with her to rescue you."

"Rescue me?" The Doctor snorted unable to believe what he was hearing. "The Mistress is no Good Samaritan P.E."

"Look I am only telling you what I know." Danny retorted hotly unable to stop himself reacting to that mocking nickname. After everything he had done to save the world, him and not Clara's Doctor, yet they still treated him like a wet behind the ears fool. They hadn't been there; they hadn't seen the way Missy seemed to be almost break, almost seem human, and then fight back with a savagery of a lioness protecting her pack.

"Missy and Osgood left to go rescue you from somewhere and they did bring you back." Danny added sarcastically. "So yeah I guess I must be an idiot but I believed them when they said that's what they were doing."

"But barely in one piece." Clara tutted shooting her boyfriend a look that Danny knew meant he would probably be paying for his tone later.

"Doctor what happened to you? Was this her work? Was that why you….you weren't yourself…" Clara paused swallowing uncomfortably as she recalled the scene she and Danny had walked in on.

Of her Doctor his handsome face warped into something unrecognisable, a monster out of nightmares, and she had stood there frozen in shock and horror as those long artistic fingers she so admired had squeezed. Missy by contrast had simply seemed unconcerned at being choked and shaken about like a rag doll. Her fingers had stroked The Doctors face in an almost loving gesture, and even after Danny had knocked him out she had continued to fuss and touch The Doctor until UNIT arrived to take them away.

So many questions and right now The Doctor was unsure of the answers, his head hurt too much and it was almost like his mind was refusing to cooperate. He had disjointed images that made no sense…orange skies and red grass…the ghostly brush of lips against his own and a terrible tightness in his chest like his hearts were breaking.

Part of him wanted nothing more than to lie back down and let sleep claim him, still he needed to know even if the truth hurt and there was only one person who could give him that. If he could trust her not to lie…

Steeling his courage The Doctor looked around for his clothes, relieved when it seemed his trousers and jacket had at least survived whatever these neophyte human doctors had put him through. Even his sonic was still in the pocket and The Doctor gripped it tightly before sliding it back into his pocket and tugging his clothes on the best he could.

The Doctor was prepared to stare and scowl down anyone who dared to get in his way.

"Where is she?"

-/-

"One million five hundred thousand and ten bottles of beer on the wall….one millions five hundred thousand and ten bottles of beer…take one down and pass it around…one million five hundred thousand and nine bottles of beer on the wall…"

"Please stop." Osgood could only plead, blinking her tired brown eyes as she huddled on the uncomfortable bench that lined one wall of the cell she had been locked up in.

The Mistress was locked up in the cell opposite hers and by contrast to Osgood seemed to be completely unconcerned for their future if her loud repetitive singing was anything to go by. What made it worse was it almost seemed like the damn song was reverberating inside her brain so even if the Mistress stopped singing anytime soon Osgood had a sneaking suspicion she would continue to hear the annoying verses repeating down inside her own head.

"One million five hundred thousand and five…"

"MISSY!" Osgood couldn't help her scream of frustration tugging on her limp brown locks as if tearing out her own hair would help any.

"What's the matter Skip you're looking a little stressed?" Missy teased, tilting her dark head as she looped her arms through the iron bars and pressed her cheek against the cool metal.

"What's the matter?" Osgood hissed in disbelief. "In the last seventy two hours I've been murdered, resurrected, had my first trip into space, tricked a timelord, almost died a second time by freezing to death…oh and let's not forget I also got to witness you and The Doctor shoving your tongues down each other's throats."

"Hmmm no need to thank me." Missy replied a smile playing about her lips as the memory replayed in her mind before her eyes turned reproachful. "Besides I am not sure I can forgive you for interrupting when you did Skip, that was my first proper make out session in this body, couldn't you have waited?"

"So instead of having to scrub my eyes clean I would have to scrub my brain instead." Osgood huffed, her noise crinkling in disgust at just the mental image. "I am no voyeur."

"Shame I am sure you would have found it educational Skip…I can be quite creative…"

Gagging Osgood could only ignore Missy's suggestive little wink. "Please spare me the details."

Pouting Missy stroked the bars suggestively, fingertips sliding up and down the length. "Your loss my dear. Still we have plenty of time and you can always change your mind…Do you think UNIT might be persuaded to let us share cells hmm?"

"I am not going to even justify that with an answer." Osgood muttered before she began to nervously chew her bottom lip.

When she had offered to be Missy's companion to save Dr Chang's life she should have realised that travelling with the Mistress around time and space would probably involve more than anyone's fair share of jails and angry aliens. After all The Doctor got into more than enough scrapes and he was trying to help people, by contrast Missy seemed to go out of her way to piss everyone off.

"Please tell me you at least have a plan to get us out of here?" Osgood sighed hoping against hope The Mistress could pull a rabbit out of a hat the way The Doctor seemed to.

She had committed treason after all, assisting an enemy combatant, even if it was the right thing to do was still a court-martial offense. If she was lucky she would just lose her job and have to back to the mind numbing boredom that was grunt lab work, as with that conviction hanging over her she would never get a job at any government contracted firm. Dear god she could only imagine her sister's face now, Stacie would love rubbing in her fall from grace, would revel in it.

"Missy?" Osgood prompted, lifting her gaze to stare at the timelady who had suddenly tensed like a whippet.

Her blue eyes almost comically large in her face The Mistress took in a deep breath through her nose, a broad smile spreading across her lips as she seemed to thrum with excitement. "Shush Pet someone is coming."

-/-


	24. Chapter 24

-/-

For the longest moment all he could do was stare, she was real after all. On the way down here The Doctor had almost convinced himself it must have been some group hallucination or perhaps a dream crab or two. Yet standing here a mere three foot away from The Mistress's cell The Doctor couldn't deny what his eyes and his nose was telling him. It really was her.

"Do you want to take a picture honey it will last longer?" Missy's teasing drawl caused The Doctor's jaw tense yet he couldn't stop looking at her.

At her loose dishevelled hair, those manic blue eyes of hers and the smears of dried blood that marred her otherwise porcelain skin; at her split lip and the well abused leather armour that encased her form…

"What's the matter love do I have something on my face?" Missy taunted her grin wide showing her teeth, not caring if it split open her barely healed cut, as The Doctor continued to stare at her mutely …The taste of blood in her mouth and The Doctor's scent in her nose, it was almost enough to send a girl into a swoon.

"Is this all I am going to get after saving your life, hmmm, the silent and moody treatment?" Missy added before crooking her bloodied fingers in a come hither gesture. "Why don't you come a bit closer love, hmm, you can be a bloody mute if you like I am sure I can find another use for those fine lips of yours."

"You are hurt?" The Doctor finally gasped out, his eyes following the droplet of blood that gathered at the corner of her mouth, a droplet that Missy caught with her tongue before it could fall.

"So are you but I see your little human friends have done their best for your little owies." Missy sniggered her gaze dropping to the hospital gown that The Doctor still wore under his jacket in place of his ruined. "Shame their hospitality towards their other guests is not so accommodating. I really must remember to mention that in my review of this place."

"What through megalomaniacs anonymous?" The Doctor snorted. "Or is there a site reviewing the jails of the galaxy?"

"If there is you should get an account sweetie, Omega knows you have spent more than your fair share locked up, we could compare notes."

"Don't call me that." The Doctor hissed wincing as that particular endearment struck a little too close to something still bruised and tender. "Use whatever ridiculous little pet names you want but never call me that again?"

"Oh of course the little woman…or ex little woman." The Mistress sniggered. "Deny it until you are blue in the face Thete but you really do have a type don't you?"

"Do not in your delusional state ever imagine that might include you!"

"Oh really what else am I supposed to hypothesise when you had your tongue down my throat and were grinding a hard on against my stomach?" Missy laughed, the look of complete bewilderment on The Doctor's face cutting short her fun. He really wasn't faking this. Something somewhere had gone horribly wrong and Missy was only just beginning to catch on.

"What did the human's do to you?"

"Nothing." The Doctor replied with confidence he didn't completely feel. Tugging at the collar of his gown he exposed the top of his bandaged chest. "This however has your signature all over it!"

"Wrong…Wrong…Wrong…Wrong!" Missy mocked twisting her head from side to side. "You are honestly telling me you don't remember anything?"

"If I did do you think I would be here asking you?" The Doctor spat, lifting his hand to viciously smack it against his own forehead. "It's like there is some sort of block and I can't make sense of it all." He added, blue eyes narrowing in disgust at The Mistress who was staring at him thoughtfully.

"Well that is unexpected." Missy muttered mainly to herself yet The Doctor's sensitive hearing caught her barely whispered words.

"What did you do to me?" He demanded all righteous indignation.

"If you must know I really was trying to help." Missy answered, her blue eyes unusually soft as she looked at him, not that The Doctor cared he could barely discern anything but the rush of blood through his pounding head.

"You weren't yourself Thete, too…" Broken, beaten, grief stricken…any and all of the above were accurate.

It was something The Mistress had dreamed of seeing for so long; The Doctor losing control, the proof that they really were the same after all. Yet like so many things the wanting had proved so much sweeter than the having "…I only gave you a little nudge."

"And your idea of helping me is to gouge bloody great gaps out of my memory?" The Doctor demanded his fingers clenching as he resisted the urge to reach out and shake sense into her…yet even the flicker of that impulse caused his head to burn.

"No I didn't they are still in that block head of yours you idiot. I only went in and…lessoned the emotional resonance of a few tiny things; just enough to stop you from going off the deep end. You're the great clot who took it further and have clearly tried to suppress the memories entirely!"

"You admit to messing with my head and I am supposed to believe that I did this to myself? You will tell me everything you took!"

"No."

It was a simple answer, spoken without the Mistress's usual gloating and yet there was nothing that infuriated The Doctor more.

"You will or I swear I will…"

"Beat the answers out of me?" Missy taunted. "Hmm call me sentimental but I think I prefer the bruises you already gave me…" The Mistress drawled her fingers picking at the buttons around her slender neck, pulling the heavy material away and exposing her long swan like neck, delicate collarbone and the sickening red and purple marks around her neck.

Marks that The Doctor refused to believe came from him…She was lying…She was always lying…

"…Leave you here to rot!" The Doctor finished, warming to his idea when The Mistress flinched. "Stuck on earth with all the apes you despise."

"You wouldn't." Missy insisted her fingers tightening on the bars. "Stop trying to pretend otherwise Doctor. You wouldn't dare leave me behind, not on earth, not where I can harm your little pets."

"Wouldn't I? I will just have to show them ways to keep you out of harm's way." The Doctor taunted, enjoying the very real look of panic in her eyes. "Or you could tell me what I need to know? I am sure you will find a cell on the Tardis to be more comfortable than whatever UNIT can come up with."

"You really wouldn't thank me for it love." Missy sighed pushing herself away from the bars and wandering over to her hard bunk, throwing herself down on the bench and glaring up at the ceiling of her little cell.

"Since when do you know or care about what's best for me?" The Doctor demanded, his frustration growing as Missy didn't answer and continued to ignore him. "You will tell me Mistress…"

Yet The Mistress was either immune to his threats or was certain he was bluffing. When she dared to actually turn her back on him The Doctor knew she wasn't going to crack…not yet at any rate.

The Mistress loathed confinement of any sort, and the idea of being imprisoned on earth would disgust her. Eventually the prospect of a change of prison would be more appealing than this power trip she currently had going on. He could wait and in the meantime he could work on releasing the repressed memories himself. The Mistress may have been the star pupil when it came to matters of the mind and sheer telepathic strength but The Doctor was no mewling babe….

Yes that would be a more fitting solution, to find a way to recover them all by himself and then return here when she was ready to capitulate only to refute all her lies in person. Only then when she had realised she had no more cards left to play would The Doctor generously agree to transfer her to the Tardis.

Not that he really wanted her there

Resisting the urge to smack his still healing hands against the cells bars The Doctor swallowed down his frustration, refusing to allow the timelady the satisfaction of knowing she had rattled him. Instead he turned on his heel and stormed out of the cellblock, even going so far as to use his sonic on the outer door of the complex when it seemed to take forever to open; relishing the sudden rush of cool air as he stepped out of the air locked prison and back into the real world.

A world where a scowling Kate Lethbridge-Stewart was waiting for him…

-/-

"That was unexpectedly nice of you." Osgood managed half sitting in the awkward silent aftermath of The Doctor's exit.

He hadn't even noticed her…no he had, but he had chosen to ignore her, deemed her to be irrelevant when compared to interrogating The Mistress. And it stung…it stung far more than Osgood had expected, and she had bitten down on her bottom lip to keep the tears at bay. The Doctor, the alien who she had spent her whole life trying to measure up to, had dismissed her as unworthy of his attention…spoiled goods through her associated with Missy.

That was assuming she had ever had been? Perhaps it had all been some little fantasy she had made up in her head? Thinking she could ever really be good enough to be a companion.

Looking back now with rose tinted specs removed it was possible to examine their interactions from another perspective. He had only made an offhand comment about all of time and space and even then it had been in front of…Missy…

They had been having their whispered little spat and Osgood had tried so hard not appear to be eavesdropping and yet it was The Doctor how could she not listen in? Had he only come over to talk to her as another way to one up Missy; to rub the timelady's nose in it as he offered a place on the Tardis to mere human instead?

Osgood had read all of UNIT's notes on The Master and it had recorded in all of the interviews conducted with the survivors of the year that never was The Doctor's repeated offers to his fellow timelord to leave Earth and travel the universe together. It must have been a slap in the face for Missy when instead of repeating his offer The Doctor instead offered it to Osgood? Missy may not genuinely want to travel with The Doctor, she had her own tardis after all, but The Mistress was proud and she would have taken offence at the slight…perhaps enough to kill because of it?

And now The Doctor had slighted her again. Leaving Missy behind on Earth was a grave insult to the timelady and Osgood could only dread the consequences.

"I mean you could have told him what happened, there was no gain to you by not telling him." Not that Osgood had any real understanding of just what had transpired in the time between Missy shutting off the communicator and the timelords sudden reappearance in the Doctor's Tardis.

The Doctor had been hurt by someone, badly hurt, Osgood knew that. She also knew that whatever else had happened that it had traumatised him badly. The unhinged timelord who had lashed out so violently towards Missy in Clara's flat was not the bitter yet seemingly sane man who had just left and somehow that was down to The Mistress.

"He won't really leave you here." Osgood tried again, staring across into The Mistress's cell at the back of the silent timelady.

"Yes because you know The Doctor and I so well. You have no idea what that timelord is really capable of, if you did all you apes would cower in under your beds at night not laud him with adulation." Missy's bitter comment had teeth and Osgood winced a little at the derision in her tone. Yet at least Missy was talking back and no longer ignoring her.

"And who says I did it to be nice? Hmm I might have done it just to mess with him?"

That was a possibility, it was certainly the story that most people would believe, and The Doctor clearly thought so and yet Osgood had seen the way Missy had cradled The Doctor in her arms until the UNIT soldiers forced them apart. She might enjoy the side benefit of The Doctor's frustration of his lack of memories but somehow Osgood doubted that had been her primary motive. Sometimes The Mistress just did things without the need for an evil mastermind motive…like catching someone falling from a computer generated skyscraper.

She wasn't good; Osgood doubted she was even capable of that. Yet to write Missy off as pure evil was to miss the shades of grey she kept so fiercely hidden beneath that figurative black cloak she wore.

"He'll be back…"

"Do shut up Skip be a good girl."

"I was just trying to say I don't think you'll really be stuck here that long." Osgood forged ahead ignoring the warning tone in Missy's voice. "I'm the one who is really stuck here."

"Neither of us are staying here!" The Mistress all but growled, rolling off of her bench in one sudden movement and like a predator she struck, arm suddenly reaching through the bar and seizing what looked to Osgood like thin air.

Thin air that suddenly rippled and filled as The Mistress grasped what looked like a cord and a dangling key and wrenched it free, revealing an all too familiar sight, one that Osgood had hope never to see again.

"Now are we Seb?"

-/-


	25. Chapter 25

Ok last proper chapter folks, I do hope you have enjoyed my little story & thank you to all my reviewers it really does brighten my day when someone takes the time to review.

There will be a _very very_ brief epilogue to follow this but otherwise enjoy the finale:

-/-

"She is not staying on Earth Doctor." UNIT's Chief Scientist's blue eyes were resolute, her thin lips pulled into a tight line as she attempted to stare down the timelord.

"Come now Kate I would have thought you would have relished the opportunity to prove UNIT's worth?" The Doctor suggested, unable to completely keep the teasing tone from his voice, a tone that merely caused Kate to lose the lingering remains of warmth from her face.

"UNIT has no need to prove anything." Kate retorted hotly as she fell in step with the long limbed timelord who was storming his way through UNIT headquarters in search of where they had stashed his Tardis this time.

"We are already valued for our efforts but we are also aware of our limitations Doctor. The Master…Mistress…whatever that timelord is called these days, is a psychopath who has pissed off at least half the galaxy. We don't stand a chance of keeping her in custody for long, you know it and I know it. Hell even if we kept her sedated the entire time, which would violate just about every law we have, even then she would probably find a way to escape."

"I can help you contain her…"

"Fine but will you also help us protect her?" Kate countered, surprising The Doctor with her blunt change of tactic and he came to a sudden stop.

"What do you mean?" The Doctor demanded his eyebrows furrowed, even as Kate glanced around the corridor before tugging a reluctant Doctor into one of the nearest empty rooms and shutting the door.

"I mean that as soon as other races realise she is alive and on Earth, this planet is going to be overrun with aliens with grudges out for a little revenge. I am not happy about putting my men's lives on the line for her…And that's even ignoring the people on this world who would want to see her eliminated, some of whom are politically powerful. You could be leaving her here to her execution."

"Some would say that was fair, after all that she has put your planet through." The Doctor grudgingly admitted. Besides it wouldn't be a first for The Master.

"Could you really stand by and allow that?" Kate asked, her normally controlled expression allowing her personal horror to leak through.

"I…I would have to respect the laws and wishes of…"

"Doctor since when have you ever done that?" Kate snorted. "You are forever sticking your nose in and telling everyone how they should be doing things, that's what makes you you!"

"Fine if you must know no I don't want her dead I never have done." The Doctor answered hotly rubbing his bandaged hands across his world weary face that seemed to have aged during this conversation. "Despite the terrible things she has done and as much as I wish I could I can't forget that once she was my best friend."

Wisely Kate remained silent although The Doctor could easily read the conflict in her eyes; compassion for him warred with duty to her planet. It was a conflict The Doctor understood only too well, having your hearts torn in different directions at the same time, only last time he had runaway rather than be forced to make a choice.

"I just don't know what to do for the best…Clara tried to kill her and I couldn't let her do that but I couldn't have them both on the Tardis without one of them killing the other. I can't just let her go she's a public menace but the thought of having to face a battle every single day from now onward…" The Doctor sighed that is what it would be, his life, a constant battleground no peace and he wasn't sure he had the strength to keep on fighting, he was just so old and so tired of all of this.

"Isn't there somewhere else she can go? Some intergalactic police force who could deal with people like her?" Kate prompted surprised when that caused The Doctor to chuckle; if the Stormcage hadn't been able to hold River, The Mistress would probably turn it into her own personal fortress.

"I was being serious Doctor."

"I know and there is but I'm afraid they would have about as much success as you would in keeping her contained….No there really is no alternative but the Tardis." He had known it all along and if he knew it then undoubtedly The Mistress knew it as well, was it any wonder she called his bluff?

"I'll need a little time to get something suitable set…" The Doctor began only for his words to be cut off by the sudden loud blaring of a klaxon. "Is that…"

"The cells." Kate finished for him watching as the blood drained from The Doctor's face and he leapt towards the door wrenching it open before racing off down the corridor trying her best to keep up in her heels even as the corridors filled with armed UNIT guards.

"Looks like we are all out of time Doctor!"

-/-

"I came to get you surely that must count for something?"

"Only because you had no other choice." Missy hissed, her bright blue eyes blown wide as she dug her talons into Seb's newly acquired skin causing him to whimper at the new sensation…pain…not pleasant it seemed. "Only because I have my Tardis preprogramed to deal with hijackers…Did you enjoy your little trip without the stabilisers on Seb?"

"No I didn't and I am very sorry Mistress, besides I did come here to rescue you that should count for something." Seb added putting Dr Chang's dark eyes to good use in the most pathetic of puppy faces.

"But you're not sorry for trying to murder me!" Osgood couldn't help but growl, her irritation growing as Seb merely rolled his eyes and tutted.

"Don't be rude Seb Skip here has a point…Apologise…"

"But she's just a human I thought they didn't matter? You never bothered about them before."

He was sulking. Osgood couldn't believe her eyes. Here was the self-centred little twerp who had pushed her out of Missy's Tardis with the intention of murdering her and then stolen said Tardis effectively stranding them both and Seb had the nerve to look put out when his creator continued to glare at him.

Missy would probably have done more than glare, given her grip on his throat, but the sudden wailing of a klaxon leant the situation a sense of urgency. Seb's sudden arrival had finally been spotted, any moment now this room would be swarming with armed guards.

"I presume you have a plan?" The Mistress demanded releasing her grip on Seb's throat and giving him a little push. "If so tick tock."

Smirking a little as he straightened the tie that had been pushed askew on his newly acquired suit Seb smugly handed over a little metal bracelet. "All charged." He replied gleefully unable to resist showing off a little, and more to the point showing up his Mistress's little human pet.

"Well it is nice to know you are not both light-fingered and incompetent." Missy retorted tartly, slipping the bracelet easily about her wrist and pressing a few of the controls.

"Shall we go then?" Seb asked gleefully reaching through the cell and grasping Missy's elbow, shooting a look at Osgood that didn't bode well.

"Wait you can't mean to le…." Osgood demanded her heart in her throat as the pair suddenly disappeared in a blur of blue light leaving her all alone.

She had honestly never expected Missy to leave her behind. Not willingly and it surprised Osgood how much it stung. It was ridiculous really The Mistress was a homicidal maniac why would she even want to escape with her and yet… Was it just another failing of being human that she had tried to humanise the timelady, she had wanted to find good in her so she had leapt upon any small sign that could be twisted that way…

God she was such an idiot.

Before Osgood had time to compose herself the door to the cellblock was thrown open and ahead of the cavalry charge was The Doctor, closely followed by a rather out of breath Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.

"NO NO NO!" The Doctor was furious at finding the Mistress's cell empty, yet most of the anger was directed at himself for being so stupid. Of course she was going to escape, it was only a wonder she had taken so long to do so.

A part of The Doctor couldn't help but wonder if she had stuck around as long as she had because The Mistress had been waiting for him? It was certainly a remarkable coincidence that it was only after their little spat and his threats that she had chosen to leave.

"How did she escape?" The Doctor demanded, pulling out his sonic and scanning the empty cell for any sign that The Mistress was actually hiding in plain sight.

"Teleport bracelet." Osgood replied softly, surprised when The Doctor deigned to turn and acknowledge her this time before turning to scowl at her boss.

"And you didn't think to search her?"

"Of course we did!" Kate replied hotly. "We may only be human Doctor but we are not infants. If she had it on her we would have found it."

"She didn't Seb brought it in." Osgood offered and suddenly she was the focus of their complete attention.

"Seb?"

"The A.I. from the Nethersphere. Missy gave him human form; it's really kind of a long story." Osgood explained with a sigh as she shuffled to the front of the cell and rested her throbbing forehead against the cold bars. "Look could I be let out of here?"

"You broke UNIT regulations." Kate replied her tone unusually cold as she crossed her arms defensively across her chest in an effort to distance herself from her former protégée. "You consorted with a known enemy…"

"I was dead!" Osgood snapped surprising both Kate and herself with her show of backbone. "I am pretty certain my employment contract expires after I am killed in the line of duty. Besides she left me behind, I am not sure what that says about the level of consorting I can be accused of?"

Snorting The Doctor continued to scan the room with his sonic, now picking up the traces of displacement from the teleport bracelet that supported Osgood's version of events. "You should consider yourself lucky you survived at all, just ask Lucy Saxon…on no wait you can't because she's dead! Because that is what she does, kills and destroys and…"

"She didn't kill you!" Osgood snapped back, not even sure why she was continuing to defend The Mistress's reputation, perhaps it was that there was no else who could or would? "She could have just left you and escaped on her Tardis after we escaped from The Nethersphere but she put her own life at risk to rescue you."

"On that her credibility is more than a little suspect." The Doctor retorted sullenly before a thought suddenly occurred to him. "You went with her didn't you? You know what happened? You agree to tell me everything you know and I'll let you out." He added lifting his sonic intending to turn it on the cell door.

"Do you mind Doctor, Osgood here is under my jurisdiction." Kate huffed laying a restraining hand on The Doctor's arm even as he turned to scowl down at her. "And I recall someone earlier saying about how they have to respect the laws and traditions of the…"

"God that sounds mind numbingly boring." A familiar voice droned and all three of them whirled around to see The Mistress resplendent in a new deep blue Edwardian style gown applying a coat of her verdant red lipstick as she leant against the open door of her Tardis. Or at least it had to be her Tardis the whole thing was invisible save the open doorway in which she stood, through which a glimpse of the Tardis interior could be seen.

"How the hell did she sneak…"

"Some of us know how to pilot a Tardis correctly." Missy gloated cutting off Kate's question. "You don't think they are meant to make that dreadful noise his makes do you? This Idiot has been leaving the brakes on for years."

"What are you doing back here?" The Doctor demanded as The Mistress pushed herself away from the safety of her Tardis and sauntered over to him a playful smile tugging at her lips. "I would have thought you would be halfway to the other side of the universe by now.

"What can't a girl just pop in to say hello anymore love?" Missy teased tutting under her breath as she took hold of The Doctor's unbuttoned coat and fastened it for him. "Honestly honey you'll catch your death running around half naked like this and you really should be resting."

"I would be if it wasn't for some pesky little irritant determined to ruin my day!" The Doctor huffed pushing aside the Mistress's arms as they went to loop around his waist, taking hold of her upper arm with his free hand. "You're up to something what is it?"

"Now now Thete why must I always have an ulterior motive?" Missy pouted before her lips stretched into a smirk enjoying his discomfort as she trailed her fingers down over his bandaged chest.

"Because you always do!" The Doctor snapped. "Well I will stop you Mi…."

"Bored now!" Missy yawned, rolling her eyes as she raised her free hand to wave dismissively in front of her mouth. "No I am merely here to pick up my companion." She added sliding her fingers down over The Doctors arm and then stroking his sonic in a suggestive manner before depressing the button and unlocking Osgood's cell.

"Come along now Skip!"

"Missy?"

"Osgood stay right there that's an order!"

"Your companion?"

"Now now one at a time!" Missy insisted as they all spoke at once, staring up gloatingly into The Doctors stunned face. "Oh don't tell me she didn't tell you? That really is very remiss of you Skip!"

"I thought my travel permit had been revoked." Osgood muttered sullenly as she pushed the door to her cell open and stepped out gingerly; avoiding the betrayed glance that Kate shot her. "I mean considering you disappeared without a by your leave."

"Silly baby." Missy tutted. "The bracelet can only carry two at a time I thought it best to return with the Tardis in any case and of course I needed to change and make myself presentable." Missy added, running her hand over the dark blue velvet of her dress that really did a good job picking out the colour of her eyes.

"You could have said…"

"And where would the fun be in that? Besides if I had then I might have cause to doubt all those nice things you said." Missy retorted her blue eyes flickering back from her companion to once again stare up at The Doctor. "She's such a darling isn't she? I really must thank you for bringing her to my attention."

"You cannot think I am just going to let you swan out of here with her?" The Doctor asked in disbelief staring down into The Mistress's smiling face.

"Oh Thete don't be boring." Missy sighed stretching up onto her tiptoes as she wrapped one arm around his neck and before The Doctor could protest pressing a chaste peck to his lips.

"We both know I am going to do what I want, so why waste breath denying it. Why don't you give me a little head start hmmm?" She added playfully tugging on the lapel of his jacket. "If you can catch me you can keep me. I'll even promise be a good little prisoner no more than one jailbreak a month."

"I have already caught you Mistress." The Doctor hissed ignoring the way his lips seemed to tingle from her kiss, tightening his grip on her arm to prevent her from slipping his grip. "Now we are…we are…" He stuttered frowning as The Mistress's smiling face seemed to sway a little.

"Careful there love." Missy cooed softly, gently prising The Doctor's now limp fingers from her arm. "That stuff can pack a bit of a punch."

"What…did you…" The Doctor slurred, his limbs suddenly so heavy that he couldn't resist as Missy pushed him in Kate's direction and he toppled into UNIT's Chief Science Officer like a falling tree, and Kate all but collapsed under his weight as she rushed to catch him.

"Just a little something to help you get that sleep you need love. You'll be right as rain…say in about forty eight hours." Missy replied softly, raising her hand to her lips and blowing him a kiss. "Sweet dreams now…" She added with a little wave as she sauntered back to the waiting Tardis.

"Wai…" The Doctor managed to groan, fighting the sleeping agent with every bit of determination.

"Skip." Missy called out expectantly from the doorway her painted nails tapping impatiently on the invisible surface, blue eyes narrowing in what was more a hint of annoyance.

"Osgood don't you take one step that's an order." Kate insisted shrilly, horrified when the younger woman actually seemed torn.

Glancing between Kate and The Doctor Osgood was genuinely conflicted, she had given her word and all of time and space beckoned. Yet she would be leaving behind so much as well. As she caught The Doctor's barely conscious gaze Osgood could see the genuine confusion in his eyes, he really couldn't understand why anyone not insane or evil would willingly follow The Mistress anywhere and in a strange way it was this that sealed the deal.

"I'm sorry." Osgood said softly, forcing an apologetic smile.

Then decision made she turned on her heel and rushed towards the Tardis catching sight of Missy's surprised expression that quickly evolved into one of triumph as she pulled her new trophy inside. Then with a mocking salute aimed at the barely conscious Doctor The Mistress pulled her Tardis door closed and then they were gone and there was nothing left to stop The Doctor from falling into the welcome oblivion of sleep.

Yet even as he did so The Doctor couldn't help the smile that tugged briefly at his lips.

The Mistress had come back for a companion…a human companion and had put herself at risk to do so…something that hadn't happened since…He couldn't quite remember but he knew it was significant.

And more importantly she was alive…somewhere in the universe and he would find her…The Doctor would always find her.

-/-


	26. Chapter 26

Epilogue:

-/-

Of course when The Doctor had made the promise to himself to find Missy he had assumed it would be a far easier task than it was turning out to be. For instance there had been those encrypted coordinates he had discovered on his sonic screwdriver, the first three coordinates were all he had to go on but The Doctor was certain Missy had planted them somehow. The idea of a cryptic clue leading him on a wild goose chase around the galaxy sounded like something The Mistress would find hilarious.

So The Doctor had grudgingly played along, plugged the first three into the navcomputer and allowed the Tardis to randomly populate the rest based on known planets, anomalies and space stations. So far he had found a planet inhabited entirely by hat wearing mice, been fired on by an intergalactic smuggling ring when he appeared in the middle of one of their supposedly secret bases, oh and narrowly avoided being sucked into a singularity event horizon, but no Mistress.

Then he had gotten distracted by that whole Santa dream crab scenario with Clara and was only able to resume his search after he had convinced himself that his impossible girl was actually fine at home with Danny. Better than fine actually as The Doctor had been an uncomfortable witness to a very relieved Danny Pink going down on one knee after his girlfriend…no fiancée had woken up alive and well after The Doctor had disabled the dream crab.

Another wedding…The Doctor couldn't help but cringe a little. Clara would insist on him attending yet The Doctor had to admit he really didn't have the best record. Something always happened and it was normally his fault.

And then there was what to get as a wedding present, he couldn't go handing out winning lottery tickets to every companion who got married.

_I would say offer to take them on a honeymoon trip but that didn't work out so well the last time better to just get them a vase…or maybe a bit of glass from Hanon Four?_

Startled by the sudden voice in his head The Doctor almost jumped out of his wing backed chair, yet it seemed his limbs didn't want to obey him and The Doctor could feel panic begin to claw up his throat.

_You're dreaming love_

The Dream Crabs…

_No proper dreaming…asleep in the library dreaming…probably snoring your head off knowing you Thete_

Then how? This wasn't possible The Doctor was certain of it. The Mistress was a powerful telepath but even she couldn't manage this sort of prolonged telepathic contact.

_Thank you for the compliment_

The Doctor could hear the preening in Missy's voice and funnily enough that was what convinced him he wasn't imaging this or worse was going mad.

_No madder than normal honey…but if truth be told I got a bit of an impromptu boost and I thought I would use it to say hello and check up on you. So I just followed my link to your Tardis and used her to relay the signal a bit to bypass your shields._

I am not a child Mistress I do not need you to ...what do you mean do you have a link with my Tardis? The Doctor huffed in irritation, his annoyance growing when he heard the tinkle of Missy's laughter through their link.

_Not got around that little bit of voodoo you did on yourself? Honestly Thete you would think a Doctor would know better, after all no surgeon should operate on himself._

Huffing a little at her less than subtle dig at his inability to regain his supressed memories The Doctor strained his own abilities, pushing back along the mental pathway The Mistress had opened between them. For a moment blinking in surprise as the dream library disappeared and he found himself staring out from behind long dark lashes, a cave…deep red mud…and a concerned looking Osgood staring down at him…dear god what was she wearing…

Before The Doctor was suddenly and roughly ejected and pushed back into his dreamscape.

_That was rude!_

Ignoring Missy's hiss of annoyance The Doctor tried to put together the visual clues. Yet there were too many variables, too many possible planets.

_That was bloody cheating and you know it Doctor._

Like you are one to talk. The Doctor retorted smugly. I see Osgood is still alive then. Funny it is almost as though you are getting soft in your old age Mistress, taking on a human companion after all these years.

_If you are going to be insulting then I am leaving._

No! The demand was instantaneous and even in his dream The Doctor could feel a flush of embarrassment at his own neediness, which he squashed down under a floating memory but not before The Mistress caught a whiff of it and The Doctor could feel her preen even at this distance.

_So you do love me after all._

There are no words for what I feel for you. The Doctor replied honestly, how could there be when his emotions regarding his oldest friend ran from bitterness and revulsion all the way through to…

_L.O.V.E_

Spelling it out doesn't make it any more true Mistress. The Doctor sighed suddenly feeling the tax that his little mental pushback had on his mind and subsequently his body. Already the library was starting to fade and the demand of his body for a deeper sleep all but consumed him.

_Doctor…DOCTOR_

Jarred by the loudness of her demand The Doctor forced himself to concentrate for a few moments more. What? I'm tired let me sleep, I haven't been sleeping well.

_Neither have I love…I thought it was you…I thought I heard you crying._

No…not me…The Doctor grunted his mind trying gain traction on the idea…trying to recall the details from his own disturbed dreams lately…yet he was so tired.

_Sleep love I'll see you soon_

Smiling at that thought The Doctor sighed as he felt her mental fingers run themselves lovingly across his psyche before withdrawing as gently as they came.

Soon, he would see her soon, it was one of her few redeeming qualities but The Mistress always kept her promises.

-/-


End file.
